Just Like a Man
by butterfly.cell
Summary: Jack returns from his trip with the Doctor to find things aren't quite how he left them. Is there anythign he can do to make ammends and fix his mistakes? Jack/Ianto; Ianto/OC. M for a couple of explicit chapters
1. Chapter 1

This is an extended song fic... loosely based around the song Just Like a Man by Del Amitri. You'll find out why it's loosely based as it progresses.

Warnings now, there's an OC in this for the majority of the fic, and it's Ianto/OC sometime,s but there's still Ianto. I hope that doesn't turn anyone away. The Oc is visually supposed to look like a cross between Aragroan (LotR) and Sawyer (Lost), if that heps the description at all.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing, sueing is pointless, I'm broke and the rest belongs to RTD

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**Just Like a Man by Del Amitri**

Chapter 1

Jack whistled happily to himself as he strolled across the plass, hands in pockets as he headed to the slab of the invisible lift. All he could think about was seeing Ianto again. After everything he'd been through over the past year, he just wanted to see his face and hear his voice. Of course, he missed the rest of the team, but it was the thought of Ianto which made his heart race that little bit faster.

As the slab descended, he heard a loud squawk behind him and twisted round to see Myfanwy circling the hydraulic tubing that lowered the slab to the basin of the Hub. He grinned at the dinosaur and chuckled to himself as the slab came to a halt. He jumped off and took a moment to look around him, appreciating the familiar sounds and smells of the place: the soft humming of computers, the dripping of the broken faucet in the hot house, the gentle, all encompassing smell of ground coffee beans that drifted from the kitchen area.

He felt another smile play on his lips as he made his way slowly through the base to his office. He stopped at the doorway and shrugged his coat off, tossing it onto the stand before looking around him, feeling instantly at ease. It was just how he'd left it, desk covered with his usual array of items, a few piles of neat paperwork, even his empty coffee mug.

_Hang on, that can't be right…_ Jack headed over to his desk and looked at the mug. Surely Ianto wouldn't just leave it there. This unusual discovery pushed Jack's forehead into a frown as he rolled his sleeves up and shoved his hands back in his pockets. It seemed to him that the rest of his office had been cleaned, the floors vacuumed and the surfaces polished, so why was this mug still sitting on his desk?

Had Ianto kept it there for a reason? Surely he'd not been brought back before he'd disappeared, not even the Doctor was that bad. A paradox was the last thing he needed. No, that wasn't the answer, there was something else. Jack felt a tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach as he inexplicably related it to Ianto.

Wandering back out into the hub, he went to check Tosh's computers, seeing whether the team was on a call or not. He got less than three feet out of the door before he stopped, frozen in place. At Tosh's workstation, there was a man he'd never seen before, standing and looking at the readings of the Rift monitor.

"Yeah, Tosh… Okay, I'll make sure there're forms are ready for filling out… No medical stuff needed? Alright… I'll get a storage box fixed up too… Okay, see you in a bit." With that, the man reached up and tapped the earpiece, muting his side of the comms.

Jack stood there and surveyed him as he continued to work, apparently unaware of the captain. He was about the same height as Ianto, perhaps a bit taller, with chin length brown hair. He was reasonably slim and stood in a way that suggested he was used to standing around waiting on orders. Jack compiled a mental list of points: English accent, roughly thirty, attractive body, roguish good looks. Hell, if he didn't know why a stranger was in the Hub, he'd be turning on the charm.

Instead of pulling his gun out and pressing it to the back of the man's skull, he used the knowledge he'd gained – that he obviously knew Tosh and was helping them on a run – and he simply cleared his throat, arms folded across his chest as he waited for the man to react.

"Captain Harkness, I presume." The voice sounded vaguely amused as the man turned around to face him. Jack was barely surprised to find that his face did justice to his physique.

"You presume correctly. And who might you be?" Jack looked at him inquisitively, a small smile on his face.

"Thomas, Thomas Greene." He stepped forward and extended his hand for Jack to shake, which he did a little wearily. "I work for UNIT, they sent me to sort out your finances before they authorised the year's relief money."

"UNIT?" Jack's face suddenly dropped and he unconsciously shifted his weight into a more hostile stance.

"Yeah… They told me you wouldn't be happy…" Thomas pulled away a little and rubbed the back of his head, grimacing apologetically. "If it's any help, I'm only doing an audit, then I'll be going back to London. I'll be done in a couple of weeks, three at the maximum."

Jack watched him with disapproval for a moment before suddenly having a thought. "Say… how long have you been here for?"

"Well, all I remember is that my superiors talked to you and you refused to let me in… Then they called again a couple of days later and told me that I was leaving that afternoon." Thomas looked a little confused. "When I turned up, about a month ago, you weren't here… None of the others really said anything, just that you'd left."

Jack grimaced to himself. _A month? The Doctor promised a couple of days at the most… How the hell am I going to explain this?_ He silently cursed the timelord's lack of temporal awareness and brought himself back to the task at hand: there was a UNIT accountant in front of him. He was just about to open his mouth to question him some more when the proximity alarm went off and the light started to flash.

Jack looked wearily up as the door rolled back to reveal Tosh and Gwen, followed by Owen and finally Ianto. They all stepped into the hub and towards the workstations before any of the noticed the captain. Gwen rushed forwards with fire in her eyes and shoved him back against the wall, knocking him off guard and making his back slam against the doorframe. He winced slightly before looking up to find Tosh standing by her desk, a hopeful smile on her face. This contrasted starkly with the look of disgust on Owen's. Ianto was stood stock still at the top of the stairs, his blue eyes fixed on Jack with a cool indifference, betraying nothing of his thoughts.

A sharp slap to the face brought Jack back to the problem at hand. Gwen Cooper.

"You left us!" Jack cringed away as her hand came up, eyes screwing closed as he waited.

"Gwen, don't." Two words in the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard, a voice that he thought he'd forgotten months ago. He opened his eyes again to find Gwen standing a little further back and Ianto in the same place, hands in his pockets as he watched. "I'll get everyone a coffee."

Jack watched with a pained expression as the young man walked carefully towards him and into Jack's office to collect the captain's mug before turning his back on the group and heading off the to kitchen area.

"Where were you, Jack?" He turned his head to Owen and looked at the medic, meeting the solemn eyes.

"I had to go… I had to go find my Doctor." Jack felt the pleading look in his eyes, but he didn't try and stop it. They needed to know how sorry he was.

"Did he fix you?" Owen's question was simple but a deep well of emotions bubbled through Jack until he barely knew how to phrase his reply.

"Who messes with this level of perfection?" _If in doubt, make a joke out of it_, he thought bitterly. Tosh smiled and Owen nodded in acceptance, a hint of his usual cynical self returning. Gwen was still glaring at him, pouting in disapproval. He met her eyes again and waited for her to acknowledge him. After a few moments, she darted forwards again, Jack shrinking away to avoid another slap.

To his surprise, he felt arms around him as Gwen squeezed him in a hug. "Don't you ever do that to us again, Harkness. Next time there'll be bullets waiting for you."

She pulled away and headed off to her station grudgingly. Owen had already left to go down to the autopsy bay and Thomas seemed to have disappeared as well. The only person left was Tosh, still smiling at him in welcome.

"Welcome home, Jack." She spoke softly.

"It's great to be back, Tosh." Jack smiled in earnest at her and headed towards where she was seated, perching on the edge of her desk. "So what's the deal with this Thomas guy?"

"Tom? Oh, he's great." She beamed at him, twisting in her seat so she was facing him. "He's doing a full inventory take of the archives and, with Ianto's help, he's sorting out the finances. They've gotten pretty messy over the last year."

Jack nodded thoughtfully as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking about the temporary member of the team. Maybe he could live with the UNIT accountant working in his Hub for a couple more weeks. He seemed nice enough and it wasn't as if he was imposing on anything Jack usually did. He suddenly wondered what Ianto thought about him and the notion made him stand up and head off to find the young man, suddenly eager to hear his voice again.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all of you who've read and commented, I'm glad you gave it a go! The plot thickens below...

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything below and I have no money, so sueing me would do no good. You all know that the characters and setting belong to Russel T. Davis and the BBC

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Chapter 2

_I still don't believe it,  
__How much we lied.  
Last night you made it with him,  
__How I'm supposed to be dignified  
Just like a man_

Strolling across the Hub, Jack headed to the kitchen area, where he could see Ianto with his back to the rest of the base. Knowing that he should give the man some space, Jack managed to stop himself from sneaking up behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist. Instead, he stopped and leaned back on the counter a few feet away from him.

"Was there something you needed, sir?" Ianto asked, his eyes still fixed on the coffee machine as he produced another cup of coffee.

"You…" Jack murmured, mostly to himself. When Ianto snapped his head around to look at him wearily, Jack hastily tried to cover his tracks. "I mean, I needed you to help me catch up on the paperwork I've missed. Maybe after work, when everyone's gone home?"

Ianto looked back at the coffee machine, avoiding the hopeful look on Jack's face. The captain felt something twist unpleasantly at the drawn out silence, the flush that was slowly appearing on Ianto's cheeks. Under any other circumstances, it would be enough to make Jack want to devour the young man. Now, it just seemed wrong.

"Sorry, sir… I can't tonight." Jack felt a lump rise in his throat at Ianto's reply and he swallowed hard as he thought up something to say.

"It's okay… We can get it done during work hours, I'm sure," was all Jack could think of. His stomach had dropped through his intestines and was currently residing around his knees. When Ianto turned to look at him apologetically, he forced a smile and abruptly changed the subject. "So, Thomas. What's he like?"

"Tom's one of the good guys." Ianto was back to watching the coffee machine, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "He's a good worker, he's trying to order everything so that UNIT won't need to investigate our finances again."

"Fair enough." Jack folded his arms across his chest and stared at the floor. "What's he like as a person?"

"He's nice." _There's that smile again…_ Jack thought as he watched Ianto work, still feeling a little uneasy. "He's friendly, gets along with everyone – even Owen. He works hard, though he's only here three days a week. He doesn't get in the way, he's helpful when it comes to cleaning up after everyone. He's one of the good guys."

Ianto looked back up at Jack, smiling at him gently. Jack forced another smile in return and shifted a little to make himself more comfortable. There was one more thing he needed to talk to Ianto about, but it was going to be hard for him to say it. He'd been debating for the entire return journey what he should say, but it eluded him now.

_Of all the things in the universe, the one thing that scares me is the thought of Ianto rejecting me. I wonder why that is_, he mused to himself, _but still, he deserves this, he deserves things to be done properly this time_. With that thought fixed in his head, he focussed on Ianto and cleared his throat to try and suppress his nerves a little.

"How are you, Ianto?" Ianto looked up in surprise, his hand hovering over the lever of the coffee machine as he began the last cup. Jack just looked at him earnestly.

"All the better for having you back, sir." He turned back to the coffee machine, another blush colouring his pale cheeks. This one didn't make Jack feel strange, so he took the chance to enjoy the sight.

"Look, I was wondering, whilst I was away… Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to dinner and talk things over." Jack felt himself becoming increasingly uncomfortable and silently cursed the Welshman for having this affect on him. He wasn't used to feeling any less than extremely confident in the face of a potential partner, but Ianto had always been different. There'd always been something about him that made Jack feel like a schoolboy, falling in love for the first time.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Ianto looked at him again, incredulous this time. Jack just shrugged.

"Sure… You interested?" His heart was racing in his chest and he could feel his palms heating up as the silence from Ianto stretched out again. He was frowning at the coffee machine again, his hand stationary on the lever as he stopped his work, out of which emotion, Jack couldn't tell.

"Not at the moment, Jack." Ianto pulled the lever down and finished the drink, avoiding Jack's eyes as the older man dropped them to the floor, a feeling of hurt and embarrassment washing over him. He didn't even register that the young man had used his name. _'Not at the moment'… well that's painfully clear_, Jack thought, fighting back the urge to run away and skulk in his office.

"I've got to go get an update on the Rift side of my absence from Tosh. Then I'll make a start on my paperwork… I'll call you in if I need you." Jack looked up as he made an excuse for himself and nodded, another forced smile on his lips as he turned away and walked back to Tosh's desk with a well faked air of relaxation. He didn't want Ianto to see what a mess he suddenly was.

Jack hastily started up a conversation with Tosh in which he'd onyl need to be a passive participant, listening avidly as she ran through the data she'd collected over the past month. A couple of minutes later, Ianto dropped off the coffee for them both before heading off to distribute the rest. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack watched Ianto move around the workstations before heading off to the archives. Despite the fact that Tosh was in the middle of explaining something to him, he quickly excused himself and headed to his office.

Sitting down at his desk, he quickly pulled up the live CCTV footage of the archives, tracking Ianto as he headed down through the maze of corridors into one of the more recent vaults. He watched as the young man took the coffees into the room and handed one to the other man in there, Thomas. There were a few minutes of them talking – a conversation he couldn't hear – before Tom took the mug Ianto was holding out for him.

He took a long mouthful of the drink and turned to Ianto again, a huge grin on his face before pulling him down by the front of his shirt and kissing him. It wasn't a quick, playful kiss that could've been just a little too friendly, it was the kind of kiss Jack would've given the young man once upon a time. The kind of kiss that staked your claim over the other person. The kind of kiss you gave to a lover as a taster for the night to come.

Jack looked away from the screen, shutting the monitor off with a jerk of his finger, determined not to see any more of the interaction. The unpleasant feeling in his chest and spread through his limbs as he felt something blow a hole through him, the edges of the wound burning like acid on broken skin, forcing the air from his lungs. He fought the urge to throw up, cry and hit something all at the same time.

"Jack?" He snapped his head up, unable to cover the dark look in his eyes and the glower on his face in time. Gwen looked at him in shock, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed.

"What?" He snapped in reply, suddenly not in the mood to be near anyone else.

"It doesn't matter… It can wait." She hurriedly left the room and Jack jumped up, walking to the door and slamming it shut, the wood rattling precariously on it's hinges as it absorbed the full brunt of his anger.

_What did you expect?_ A voice rung in his ears clearly, from the depths of his subconscious. _You disappear for a month and you expected him to wait? When he had no idea whether you were coming back or not? When you'd never told him how much he meant to you before you left? You deserved to lose him..._

_It doesn't mean I have to like it_, a second part of him growled back in reply as Jack shook his head violently, trying to displace the words. He slumped back down into his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose, screwing up his eyes as he tried to lock away the memory of Ianto and Tom.

After several minutes of recounting a long list of Torchwood weaponry, he felt his anger was reined in enough for him to start doing some of the paperwork sitting on his desk. He pulled a file towards him and flipped it open, grabbing a pen and gritting his teeth as he began to read. The monotonous tone of the reports soon numbed his mind, making it a little easier to breathe.


	3. Chapter 3

Yaay, next chappie! I'm glad people are enjoying it so much, thanks for the reviews! As always though, they keep my world ticking over, so I luurve them to the end of the world and back!

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing, it's all RTD and the BBC!

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Chapter 3

_Well, I spend my night times drinking,  
__You spend your days in bed.  
And I guess it's up to us to choose,  
__The methods by which we forget._

The afternoon passed easily. No one disturbed Jack and Jack didn't leave his office. To his intense surprise, his pile of paperwork was largely dented by the time he heard the proximity alarm go off. When he looked at his watch, he realised with a jolt that it was already seven in the evening. The team would be going home.

There was a knock at his door, and without waiting for an invitation, it opened. In the doorway was the last person Jack wanted to talk to. Ianto just watched him with something akin to pity in his eyes, his stance uncomfortable.

"Yes?" Jack's voice was cold and a little lacking in emotion as he felt the edges of the wound burn a little more, his breath hitching in his throat.

"I could stay and help you with those files if you needed me to, sir. My plans changed." Ianto looked at him nervously, his eyes bluer than Jack had remembered. A sudden pang of longing made him grip onto the underside of his desk a little harder.

"No, I wouldn't want you to keep Tom waiting. Got something nice planned?" Ianto swallowed audibly at Jack's words and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and standing behind the guest chair.

"Jack, don't do this." Ianto bit his lip as he watched Jack. This was precisely what he didn't want to happen. Jack was going to be hard about Tom, he could sense it. He'd sensed it the moment he'd said no to staying late after work.

"Do what, Ianto?" Jack looked away, staring moodily at a spot to the side of the desk.

"This!" Ianto said in exasperation, casting his eyes around briefly before letting his shoulders slump a little and sitting down in the seat, sighing heavily.

"I'm not doing anything, Ianto." Jack forced himself to look up, a little alarmed at the regret in the young man's eyes.

"Yes you are." Ianto suddenly seemed tired as he shook his head gently. "I didn't know if you were coming back to us. I was distraught and we got talking and things just went from there… I never meant it to happen."

"How long have you been together?" Jack asked quietly, scared of the answer, scared of finding out anything else. He still felt that he'd wake up any minute and find that he'd never left his team.

"A couple of weeks. He's only here for a couple more anyway… but he's staying with me whilst he's here to save the money on a hotel." Ianto sat back and watched Jack intently.

"Is it something that's going to carry on?" Jack managed to meet his eyes, unable to keep his hurt out of his own gaze. Ianto shifted uncomfortably.

"I doubt it. He lives in London and neither of us exactly get holiday time." Ianto shrugged slightly and looked away.

"If it made you happy, you could have as much as you needed." Jack's reply was quiet, taking Ianto by surprise. He looked back at his captain, frowning slightly. "Does he make you happy, Ianto?"

"Yes." Ianto had thought for a long time before answering, noting the pain in Jack's eyes as he spoke. Ianto felt the needed to explain himself. "It's safe with Tom. He's always there at the end of the day, he's always there first thing in the morning. I don't have to constantly worry about whether he's bored of me or not."

"I never got bored of you, Ianto." Jack couldn't look at him, every word Ianto said ripping into him like a knife, forcing the air from his lungs again.

"But you never told me that! We were never anything more than a convenience, Jack. At least, we weren't for you." Jack looked up again, sharply, at the young man's words. He found Ianto's eyes shining as he looked away, his jaw clenched as if fighting back tears. "I was in love with you, Jack, but you never wanted more than an after-hours shag." The silence that followed yawned deeply between them.

"You loved me? Past tense?" Jack asked quietly, taking a moment to digest and comprehend Ianto's words. They still didn't completely sink in. Ianto just sighed heavily again and rubbed his eyes. After a moment, he stood up and walked a few steps away before turning around to answer.

"No." Unsure which question he'd answered, Jack looked up again, accidentally allowing hope to blossom in his mind. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you hurt me anymore. I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry for doing this, but I don't think I could handle the pain of you leaving again."

Jack jumped to his feet and lurched forwards, desperately grabbing Ianto around the wrist and pulling him around to face him, searching his face for some sign that he was bluffing.

"Ianto, please… Don't give up on me." Jack sought the young man's eyes, but Ianto just shook his head and pulled himself free.

Jack felt a crushing weight hit him as the hope died completely, the small spark of comfort following Ianto out of his office and out of the Hub. It was all the captain could do to stop himself collapsing under the strength and viciousness of his emotions.

Without a second thought to the proximity alarm that had just ended, Jack grabbed a bottle of whiskey from his drinks cabinet. He climbed down into his bunker and kicked his shoes off, sitting down on his camp bed. He took a moment then to stare at the amber liquid before twisting the lid off and tilting his head and the bottle back, pouring a large amount into his mouth and swallowing with a gasp and a hiss.

Soon, the bottle was empty and Jack's senses were numbed enough for him to lie down, curled on his side and facing the wall. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to send his body to sleep limb by limb. However, before he'd even reached his knees, he was thinking about Ianto, remembering all the small things that he loved so much about the Welshman. He gripped his sides tightly and squeezed his eyes shut, angling his face into the pillow. Gasping for air, he forgot about the tears coursing over his cheeks.

A hundred metres above Jack, Ianto was walking slowly across the plass, hands shoved into his coat pockets and his face turned down, silently thanking whatever God there was that it was already dark. He didn't want the nosey residents of Cardiff seeing him cry.

He hadn't expected to feel so torn up over Jack. He'd convinced himself weeks ago that Jack wasn't worth getting this hung up over, right after he'd kissed Tom for the first time. It had been hard, but somehow he'd managed to move past what was holding him back. He'd buried it so deep that he'd almost forgotten it.

He shoved the thoughts from his head as he climbed into his car, needing to concentrate on the road in front of him. He barely noticed the ten minute drive to his flat, but when he arrived, he hurried to get inside and upstairs to Tom.

The minute he walked in the door, Tom knew something was wrong. He'd been lounging on the sofa and looked over as he heard the door open and shut. The sight of Ianto staring into space, cheeks streaked with tears and a heart breaking expression in his eyes made him jump up and rush over, taking Ianto's face in his hands and looking deep into it in concern.

"Ianto, are you okay?" Ianto blinked a couple of times and managed to focus on Tom, eyes recognising him eventually. He nodded slowly before looking back at the floor, concentrating on breathing steadily and not on the sensation of writhing worms in his stomach. He felt strong arms wrap around him and slowly, wearily, he relaxed into them, returning the embrace and sighing as he rested his forehead on the familiar shoulder.

"Have you eaten?" He murmured eventually, his voice muffled by the wool of Tom's jumper.

"I just ordered a takeout, it's on it's way. Should be here in twenty minutes." Tom pulled away and removed Ianto's coat and suit jacket before guiding him over to the large, deep sofa and pulling him down. They lay together, Ianto's head on Tom's chest, Tom stroking his back gently, knowing that Ianto was anything but okay.

Tom held him close and pressed the occasional kiss to the top of the Welshman's head, feeling almost completely helpless. Ianto had never really explained his relationship with the captain, but it didn't take a genius to know that they were more than boss and employee. He almost decided to ask Ianto, but the young man just lay there, trying to ignore the part of his mind that was whispering to him. _It should be Jack's arms around you, keeping you safe… It should be Jack…_


	4. Chapter 4A

A little bit shorter, but more will follow later on today! Basically, two chapters for you today. This chapter goes particularly well with the lyrics from Chapter 3 (as well as these ones) but hey, I needed to break them up.

Please enjoy and review!

**Disclaimer**: Again, I own nothing, property of RTD and the BBC

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Chapter 4A

_And just like a man, he holds you gently,  
And just like a man, he strokes your hair,  
And just like a man, I still pretend that I'm  
Immune to the whole affair._

Ianto rolled over groggily, eyes screwed up against the notch of sunlight that filtered through the gap in the curtains. He blinked a few times before he managed to squeeze one of his eyes open. He looked around to find himself lying alone in bed, dressed in his pyjamas. Reaching for the clock, he almost leapt out of his skin when he saw the time.

"Relax," A voice said, Ianto twisting to find the owner. "Jack called earlier. He said that you all have the day off as a thank you for holding fort whilst he was gone." Tom walked over and sat down on the bed next to Ianto, leaning down and kissing him gently on the forehead. Ianto slid a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer, capturing his lips in a strong kiss. After a few long, happy moments, Tom pulled back with a smile lingering on his lips. "You hungry?"

Ianto propped himself up on his elbows and smiled crookedly. "Not quite."

He pushed himself up and pulled Tom to him by the front of his t-shirt, locking lips with him as soon as he was close enough. Tom groaned happily and moved his hands to Ianto's hips, running them slowly around his back and pulling him towards him, deepening the kiss.

"I think I can help there." Ianto was trailing his lips down Tom's neck, kissing the soft skin lightly before biting gently on his collar bone, eliciting another groan from the man.

"I'm sure you can." Ianto moved back up to look and Tom again, grinning mischievously. Without warning, Tom pressed him down on the bed, manoeuvring himself so he was lying on top of the young man, lips pressed to his exposed neck.

* * *

Jack sat in his office, rubbing his temples gently as he tried to ignore the throbbing headache of his hangover. He'd already raided Owen's stash of painkillers and was just waiting for them to kick in. He'd called everyone early in the morning, half out of gratitude for all their hard work, half because he just needed a day alone. After all that time wanting to be back, he suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.

He groaned gently and checked his mobile in a vain thought that Ianto may have called. It was late in the morning now and the team would probably be back in bed. _Ianto will be with Tom…_ his mind thought before he could stop himself. He slammed his fist down on his desk angrily and pushed himself out of his chair, suddenly needing to occupy himself.

His first thought was to go see Janet. He'd need to feed her today, as Ianto wouldn't be in. He strolled down to the vaults and swung into the room behind the cells. From the cupboard at the end, he grabbed a bucket of chilled meat and went back to the door that lead into Janet's cell.

He heaved the thick metal entrance open and tipped the pile of flesh into the middle of the floor, winking as Janet looked up at him. She'd become surprisingly domesticated for a weevil, to the point of recognising some of the team members; Owen, Ianto and himself mainly.

Jack closed the door and watched through the small window for a moment, smiling as Janet carefully picked through her food and tore the chunks apart with her teeth, chewing before swallowing, a manner that Ianto had forced her to learn in a fit of exasperation at having to deal with Weevil-indigestion. Jack chuckled to himself briefly before the memory morphed into an all the more painful one.

_Ianto's breath on his neck was almost intoxicating, their skin pressed together as Jack ran his hands through the young man's hair, inhaling the soft scent of coffee beans and vanilla soap. They'd barely begun but Jack felt the need for the young man to be closer, melded together as one person, even if only for that split second…_

Jack found himself kneeling on the floor, bent over so his forehead was pressed against the cool concrete, arms wrapped around his chest again, holding the gaping wound together as much as possible.

* * *

Ianto ran his hand over Tom's chest, smiling slightly to himself as his regained his breath. The sensation of the other man's fingers combing his hair and holding him close was all he could ever ask for. It was the overwhelming feeling of safety that he felt which made him stay.

"Fancy breakfast now?" Tom's voice was low, a murmur that Ianto felt as much as heard. He pushed himself up and kissed him gently, lingeringly.

"Yeah, I think so. First, we need to get cleaned up." Ianto sat up and turned to find Tom smiling at him in amusement. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the other man's hand dragging him out of bed and through to the bathroom.

Ianto flicked on the shower and waited for the water to heat up. He felt arms around his waist and twisted to meet the lips that sought his in another kiss. The gentle embrace was broken as Ianto managed to regain his common sense and dragged them into the shower.

Under the hot jet of water, Ianto felt his muscles start to relax. He grabbed the shower gel and squeezed it onto his hands, carefully cleaning them both as Tom did his best to distract his partner form his task, hands and lips roaming over his body in a way that was too close to Jack for comfort.

Ianto pushed the thought away and continued his work, letting Tom draw him in a little more in an attempt to distance himself from the memories of Jack that were bustling for his attention.

* * *

Jack had managed to compose himself after ten rough minutes. He left the vaults and headed back to the Hub, climbing up the levels to feed the other Torchwood pet. Myfanwy squawked in approval as he entered the cave and deposited a second pile of raw meat, this time in much larger chunks. The dinosaur ambled over and nudged him gently in welcome, her long nose tapping his head to one side. Jack reached up and scratched her on the back of her head gently, eliciting and low hum of pleasure.

He smiled ruefully before leaving the cave and wandering back down to the workstations. He stood by Tosh's desk and looked around, wondering what he could do next. He was distracted by the sensation of his body heating up, heating up more than it should. He checked his wrist strap and found the room temperature to be at least five degrees too high.

Relishing the idea of having something to concentrate on, Jack headed down to the room in the archives that housed the climate control system. He stood in the middle of the small room and surveyed the equipment that took up half of the room, wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

With a masochistic grin, he tuned his wrist strap in to receive Rift alerts and set to work on the thermostat. Hopefully, the task would take up most of the day. It was a complex piece of machinery and would require his complete and undivided attention.


	5. Chapter 4B

**-- WARNING**: This is the first of the M rated chapters, not as much as a later one though.

Here's the second part of today's update, please enjoy! (Also, I'm sorry to everyone who found Ianto/Tom disturbing last section!) Reviews are love, so please let me know if you like it :)

**Disclaimer**: As usual, I own nothing... all property of RTD and BBC.

* * *

Chapter 4B

The day had passed in an enjoyable blur. Ianto and Tom had spent the day lounging around the flat, watching DVDs, eating whatever they found in the cupboards and generally enjoying each other's company. Predictably, they'd spent the late evening wide awake.

It was after that, whilst Tom was sleeping peacefully beside him, that Ianto lost control of his thoughts, memories of nights spent with Jack rushing back to him, overwhelming his senses in a bid to be remembered.

"_Ianto…" Jack's voice was deep and breathless, hardly there at all. Ianto simply kissed his exposed neck and pushed himself in a little further, an arm still wrapped around Jack's waist to steady him, the other on the bed behind him to steady himself. _

_He started to move gently inside Jack, pushing on his prostate in the most delicious manner, making Jack's body tense around his own, keeping him in time with Jack's increasing heart rate. The slow, languid thrusts would be enough to push them both over the edge any second now, but neither wanted it to be over that soon. _

_The smell, the sensations, the sounds… Everything about the situation made Ianto feel like he'd never been anywhere more…_ right _than this. There was an undeniable feeling of peace when he was so close to Jack like this, a peace he'd never felt before, not even with Lisa…_

Ianto shook his head slightly to dislodge the memory and pushed himself up and out of bed. Silently, he groped around for his abandoned boxers and jeans, pulling them on before retrieving a clean pair of socks and his t-shirt. There was only one thought in his mind, nothing else mattered right now.

With a moment of clarity, he turned and watched Tom sleeping for a moment, his hair dishevelled and scattered across his face, his chin already covered in a layer of stubble. The sight made his heart twist in a way that reminded him he did love the man, no matter what his mind might be playing at with Jack. He loved Tom and Tom made him happier than Jack had ever really managed to, at least, he made him happier than Jack had without the inevitable trail of insecurity and heartache..

Whether that was because Tom was always there or because he didn't have any mind blowing secrets, Ianto didn't know. All he knew was that the past few weeks with Tom had helped heal the gaping wound Jack had torn open when he'd left without a word.

Sighing, he walked out into the living area and found his trainers, slipping his feet into them before grabbing his keys and exiting the flat, not even bothering to take a jacket. He hurried down to his car and climbed in, starting the engine and driving off, unable to stop himself.

* * *

Jack had given up on the climate control a while ago, after only a couple of hours of work. For the rest of the day, he'd finished his paperwork, silently thankful that the Rift had been quite all day. When he'd gone back down to his bunker to try and grab some sleep, he'd found a book that Ianto must have left there lying on his desk.

He picked it up and read the blurb, deciding that he would give it a go. Climbing back up to his office, he'd parked himself behind his desk and opened the book. He'd been reading it non stop ever since and was now half way through. He was both alarmed and annoyed when he heard the proximity alarm go office in the very early hours of the morning.

He put his book down and was about to get up when a familiar figure appeared in the doorway, a figure that made his heart ache painfully.

"What can I do for you?" Jack twisted his seat round and looked at the young man. He was shivering slightly and Jack wasn't at all surprised. He was dressed only in a t-shirt and jeans and it was the middle of a rather chilly springtime. He got out of his seat and headed over to the door, reaching out to rub the young man's arms in an attempt to warm him up a little.

Ianto didn't protest but looked up gratefully, smiling slightly. "Th-thanks."

"No problem." He guided Ianto over to the spare chair and sat him down, disappearing for a moment to duck into his bunker and grab the blanket off his bed. He wrapped it around the young man's shoulders and knelt in front of him. "So, what brings you here in the middle of the night, Ianto?"

"I honestly don't know." Ianto replied, sitting still as he let himself warm up. After several minutes, he felt a little too warm, not surprising seeing as Jack hadn't managed to fix the thermostat. Pushing the blanket off him, he sighed slightly. "You're beautiful, Jack. Did I ever tell you that?"

Jack frowned and moved his hands to Ianto's face, thumbs holding his cheeks down a little so he could inspect the young man's eyes. Maybe he should call Owen in, Ianto obviously wasn't well. He felt Ianto's hands wrap around his wrists gently as he rested his forehead down against Jack's.

The moment was intense; the feel of Ianto's warm breath on his lips, the sound of his heartbeat through his veins and in his chest, the scent that scattered memories like clouds of disturbed dust. Jack was surrounded by those clouds, remembering similar occasions, the emotions of each one running though him like a shock of electricity. He found it incredibly hard not to kiss the young man, to take him then and there.

The self restraint was in vain as Ianto leaned forwards and captured his lips in a gentle, longing kiss. He managed to pull back and stand up, eyes locked on Ianto's as the young man stared at him in a way that made it all too clear what he wanted. Before Jack could say anything, Ianto was on his feet, hands on Jack's neck as he caught his lips in another gentle kiss, the need glaringly obvious.

It didn't take Jack long to surrender completely, deepening the kiss as he slid his hands round to the back of Ianto's neck, keeping him close. His breath hitched slightly as he felt Ianto's palms running down his neck and over his chest, resting just above his heart, fingers gripping his shirt tightly. Jack groaned in a rush of lust and twisted their bodies around until he was pressing the young man hard against the wall, supporting his body.

The feeling of Ianto's tongue running along his own was enough to take away all of his awareness, sending him spiralling into a void filled with nothing but the young man in his arms. He was surprised to feel Ianto's fingers begin to tentatively unbutton his shirt, one by one, from the top down.

All too quickly, both men were experiencing déjà vu, a handful of times when the sex they had was secondary to the meaning of it, enjoying each other, more interested in pleasing their partner than themselves. It was times like these which scared Jack the most, which proved he was falling in love with the young man if he hadn't already.

_This is wrong_, both men thought, almost simultaneously. Jack tried to pull away but Ianto stopped him, keeping him close, desperate to keep him there. He intensified the kiss, passion and longing pouring off him in waves, emotions that Jack was all too receptive to. Jack kept his eyes closed against the sudden sting of tears that the thought of letting Ianto go was causing. He kissed the young man hard, in apology and desperation.

Ianto slid Jack's suspenders off his shoulders and then pushed his shirt apart, running his hands over the familiar and thrilling torso. He knew he should go home right now, leave whilst he still could and be back in time to wake up with Tom. He knew how horrible it was to wake up alone in the morning. The guilt prickled the back of his mind, but he squashed it down, ignored it's existence. All he wanted was to feel Jack inside of him, around him, _with_ him, but now that the memory of Tom sleeping in their bed had surfaced, he couldn't ignore it for much longer.

Jack was thinking the same thing, remembering Ianto's words from earlier: _'He's always there first thing in the morning. I don't have to constantly worry about whether he's bored of me or not.'_ It was that which made him grab Ianto's hands and stop them from straying any further than they already were, resting on his hips.

"Jack?" Ianto pulled back slightly, his voice filled with hurt and confusion. Jack couldn't even look up.


	6. Chapter 5

I must admit that as I write this A/N, I don't remember what happens in this chapter... so my proof read is as much a lesson in remebering as it is in discovering for you! It made me sad to leave it where I did, but I don't apologise for the evilness of it! I'm just glad you enjoyed it :)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, they belong to RTD and BBC

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Chapter 5

_But I wanna die, I wanna cry,  
__I wanna tell you I was wrong.  
Yeah, I wanna die, I wanna cry,  
__But it's too late, so I soldier on  
__Just like a man._

"Ianto, you need to go home. You need to go back to Tom before you do something you'll regret. Don't make him feel the way I made you feel." Jack's voice was low and careful as he stopped himself from crying or taking Ianto downstairs, screw the consequences. This was the right thing to do and he knew Ianto would see the sense in his decision in the morning.

"Okay, you're right." Ianto made no move to leave though and neither did Jack, both pressed firmly against the wall, too lost in the other to move. Ianto couldn't bring himself to lose that physical contact with Jack, scared that he'd lose it forever if he moved his hands. Jack made the decision for him again and broke away, moving behind his desk, facing the other way with his arms wrapped around himself.

Ianto frowned slightly at the strange stance but said nothing as he left the office, heading towards the door with a sense of foreboding. The emotions he felt for Jack, the emotions he'd tried so hard to lock away, had been released and there was no way to rein them in again. The buried truth surfaced and shone behind his eyes, beaten into his skull like a tattoo.

Ianto Jones was still in love with Captain Jack Harkness.

* * *

Back in his office, Jack was kneeling on the floor again, incapacitated by the aching hole in his chest, breathing with difficulty. He rocked forwards until his head was leaning on the floor and he let himself cry all of the tears which he'd held back.

He howled in pain and frustration for several long moments before the ache subdued enough for him to get up and climb into his desk chair, steadying himself and closing him eyes, willing away the lingering sensation of Ianto pressed to closely to him, the taste of his lips, the way his hands ran across his chest.

He gave himself a moment to enjoy the feelings that remained before he started to recall a list of inventory for the medical supplies inside the Hub. He finished the list about ten minutes later, finding nothing more than a dull throb in his chest and sore eyes from the crying.

He got out of his seat and headed back down to the autopsy bay, shrugging slightly as the increased temperature started to get uncomfortable. He dug around in the drawers of Owen's cabinet of medication until he found the stronger pain killers, determined to make his headache go away once and for all. He popped four of the pills from the sleeve and carried them back up to his office, grabbing a bottle of water from his desk and the blanket on the chair before carrying everything down into his bunker.

He sat heavily on the bed, throwing the blanket behind him and sighing at the thumping pressure in his temples. Placing the pills carefully on the bed next to him, he twisted the lid open and pulled it off, tossing two of the pills in and swallowing them down with a quarter of the bottle. Taking a moment to close his eyes and feel the cool water run down his throat, he took the last two and finished the bottle before lying back on his bed, hands behind his head.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing, ignoring the now familiar sensation of acid eroding his insides.

* * *

Ianto arrived home after a taking the long route. He'd needed time to think, to clear his head and arrange his thoughts into some semblance of order. He opened the front door to the flat carefully, making as little noise as possible as he slipped inside and removed his trainers, kicking them onto the shoe stand behind the door.

He padded across the living room and down the corridor, into the bedroom, unconsciously holding his breath until he saw Tom still sleeping, in the exact same position as before. Ianto sighed quietly before flicking his eyes over to the clock on his bed side table, groaning inwardly as he read the bright red digits. '04:47'… he really had taken the long route home.

Sighing again, he pulled his clothes off and walked through to the en suite bathroom, tossing them in the wash basket before flicking the shower on and closing the door, trying to let Tom sleep a little longer. He didn't have to work today, but he usually woke up to see Ianto off. The thought made a smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he stepped under the hot jet of water, allowing the heat to sooth away the tension that had gathered in his muscles.

Every time his mind trailed towards memories of Jack, he diverted it's path and started thinking about other things. He settled of compiling a list of things he needed to buy; food, DVDs, new clothes… anything that he might possibly need.

He eventually managed to suppress the emotions that had risen mere hours earlier, no matter how temporarily, and climbed out of the shower, flicking the water off before reaching for a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He turned to face the mirror and tried not to dwell on the sight of the dark smudges under his eyes. Hopefully his lack of sleep wouldn't be too apparent after his first cup of coffee.

Instead, he busied himself with applying shaving foam and carefully removing his morning stubble, feeling more awake by the minute. He brushed his teeth vigorously several times before he felt completely awake. He tried not to think that it was actually a redundant exercise as he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. _Ah well, I'll just eat later on, when I get to work_, he thought with a grimace.

When he walked through to the bedroom, he found Tom awake and watching him with a smile on his face. He'd obviously gotten up to turn the lights on for him, but he was now sprawled out across the bed again. Ianto smiled back at him and walked over, sitting on the edge of the mattress and leaning over to kiss him good morning.

The appreciative groan his received made him laugh lightly before he pulled back and started gathering his clothes for the day. He pulled on a clean pair of boxers and a clean undershirt before making his way over to the large wardrobe that covered an entire wall. He rifled through several shirts before settling on a dark red one, selecting a slightly darker tie and pulling them on.

Next, he retrieved a very dark grey suit and pulled the trousers on, leaving the jacket on the hanger for the time being. He returned to the bed and pulled on a pair of socks, surprised to find arms around his waist and a weight on his shoulder as soon as he'd finished.

"You going to be okay today?" The voice murmured, concern evident in the English accent.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I've been through worse from Jack so a little flirting or shunning isn't going to kill me." He twisted his head round and caught Tom's lips in another kiss, another flare of guilt surfacing through his fragile defences. "okay, I've got to go. I'll try to be back on time, but I can't make any promises… Who knows what the Rift will spit out today?"

Tom smile and kissed him once more for luck before pulling away and shoving him off the bed and towards the door. "Just don't get yourself hurt, okay?"

"Okay." Ianto grabbed his suit jacket and shrugged it on, turning at the doorway and catching his lover's eyes for the briefest of moments, the guilt washing away to be replaced with a soft glow of affection. He nodded slightly before flicking the light off and pulling the door closed.

Taking a deep breath, he padded across the living room again and pulled on his work shoes and grabbed his coat, remembering the chilling cold of the outside from earlier that night. Trying not to remember anything else about what had transpired only hours ago, Ianto stepped out of the flat, slipping into his false exterior to face the day.

* * *

The dreams Jack had drifted through over the past hours did nothing to quell the uneasy feeling in his stomach. He checked the clock and groaned at the thought of having to face his team again. More to the point, he'd have to face Ianto in less than an hour.

He rolled out of bed and shuffled through to the bathroom attached to his bedroom. He had a hurried shower, running his hands through his hair several times as he looked in the mirror, remembering Ianto's words: '_You're beautiful, Jack, did I ever tell you that?_'. He felt his heart crack again and looked away, returning to his room to throw on some clean clothes, snapping his suspenders in place as more of a comfort than a necessity.

Standing at the foot of the ladder, he gripped one of the rungs tightly in both hands, breathing deeply several times to prepare himself. _Come on, Jack, you can do this, it's not hard. You've been through far worse than this, just get through today. You can break down again later…_ his mind encouraged, egging him on to get the day ahead over with. He took comfort in the fact that he was right; he could break down again afterwards.

Now was the time for false fronts and faked confidence. Now was the time to put his acting skills into practice again. He just hoped they were good enough to fool the others.


	7. Chapter 6

Mmmmm, I quite like this chapter... It shows a nice difference from the almost unrelenting angst of the story so far!

Please enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, merely manipulate them.. property of RTD and the BBC

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Chapter 6

_I don't believe it,  
__You were easy to leave but now,  
I do my best to relieve it,  
__In the only way I know how,  
Just like a man._

Ianto had arrived at his usual time, greeting Jack with a cup of coffee and a smile, as always. Jack had done his best to act in the same way as the young man, but he'd found it incredibly hard. Several times he'd had to physically restrain himself from going to Ianto and kissing him again. He was relived when the others turned up for work, setting the professional ball rolling for the day.

At around mid morning, Jack was watching his team working, through the glass window behind his desk which was covered with intricate patterns that only he could decipher. He smiled at Gwen and Owen bickering over something and Tosh, as per usual, sitting back and calmly mediating the argument, shaking her head at the interaction.

He scanned around for Ianto and found the young man standing in the kitchen area, a bowl in his hands as he leaned back on the counter. Jack watched, mesmerised for several moments as Ianto ate his cereal and drank his coffee. He found himself longing for the days when they'd eaten their breakfast together, long before he'd died, come back and disappeared on them all… Long before Ianto had turned to someone else for comfort that Jack had never really given him.

With a sigh, Jack sat forward again, propping his head up on one of his hands as he thought about just how much he'd abused Ianto's trust and affection.

It had been so easy for him to just up sticks and run after the Doctor, not giving more than a moment's thought to what it would do to the team he left behind. At that moment, when he'd heard the TARDIS and felt the rushing wind, all he could think about was that the years of waiting were over. He was here and he could get his answers now.

It had been an easy decision to make. Unfortunately, the trip had gone horribly wrong. Still, Jack had gotten his answers and returned to his team thinking he'd been gone for no more than a day or two. Again, the plan had gone horribly wrong. All the answers he'd received, the personal flaws he'd come to terms with, were for nothing without Ianto there waiting for him.

Jack sighed heavily again and pushed himself violently out of his seat, his bad mood escalating again. He grabbed his coat as he stormed out of his office, stopping in the middle of the workstations to pull it on.

"I need to get out." He said as he straightened his collar, everyone watching him in concern at his sudden decision. "I'll be on the comm if you need me."

Without another word, he left Hub through the Tourist Office entrance and walked swiftly across the plass, avoiding the lines of sight of the CCTV cameras scattered around the place. He didn't want the team following him.

Back in the Hub, Tosh, Gwen and Owen were exchanging glances. None of them had any idea where he'd gone, but only the two women were remotely concerned. Owen was more amused than anything.

"I told you that once he found out tea-boy wasn't waiting for him, he'd go all pre-madonna on us." Owen rolled his eyes and sat back, ignoring the glare he received off Tosh.

"Well, I for one don't care. We dealt for a month without him, another few days won't do much difference." Gwen folded her arms and pouted more to herself than anyone else. No matter what she said, she was still glad Jack had come home. "We'll just make sure there's a huge pile of paperwork for him when he comes back."

"You guys shouldn't be so hard on him." Tosh said quietly, having turned back to her computer. She felt her face heat up under Gwen and Owen's incredulous stares. "Haven't you noticed how much he's changed? He's not himself, not yet."

Owen was about to offer some typically sarcastic retort when Ianto walked over to them, carrying a tray of coffees. Owen quickly snapped his mouth shut and turned back to his computer. Ianto handed the mugs out suspiciously, watching his team mates as they systematically avoided his eyes.

"Okay, what's happened?" He stood in the middle of them all, right where Jack had been, with his hands on his hips. His tone didn't invite anything other than the complete truth.

"Jack's just left. He said he needed to get out." Gwen was the only one to meet the young man's eyes, offering all the information she knew.

"Right." Ianto glowered, speaking to himself. "That's it, he's not pissing around this time."

"Ianto?" Owen turned round at the vicious tone in the young man's voice, a little alarmed. "Ianto, where're you going?"

Ianto was heading towards the door, hands balled into fists. "I'm going to get his butt back down here."

The anger in his voice shocked the others so much that none of them argued with him as he headed out of the Hub. Ianto just fumed silently to himself as he left through the Tourist Office and headed purposefully across the plass to one of the taller, near-by buildings.

Without hesitation, he climbed up to the roof and stepped out onto the blustery stretch of concrete. Just as he'd assumed, Jack was standing on the edge of the building, arms folded around his torso in the same stance as the night before, a stance that made Ianto stop, his insides squirming slightly. It made Jack look lost, a look that Ianto wasn't used to in the older man. He stood silently and watched, feeling torn between yelling at the man and wrapping him in his arms.

Finally, Jack shifted his arms in a movement that seemed to be smoothing down the front of his shirt before shoving his hands in his pockets, his head angling slightly to look out at the horizon, watching the sea meet the horizon in a blur of shades of blue.

"What're you doing, sir?" Ianto called over the sound of the wind whistling over and around the building. Jack jumped slightly and twisted around. After a moment of silence, he twisted back to face the water.

"Go back to the hub." Jack replied, his voice cold and authoritative.

"No." Ianto clenched his fists again and hardened his stance, fully prepared for the obvious anger Jack showed as he whipped around and strode forwards, stopping only inches away from him. Jack glared into his eyes, his teeth gritted as he tried to control his temper.

"I said 'Go back to the hub.' That's an order." The captain was shaking with suppressed emotion, but Ianto stood his ground, not faltering under the intense situation.

"What in God's name is your problem, sir?" Ianto continued, speaking in a cool and calm manner.

"You! You're my problem!" Jack twisted away violently, stepping back a little and looking out at the sea again. Ianto felt his heart lurch and swallowed the lump in his throat. He couldn't keep splitting like this. He was angry at Jack's petulance, he needed to stay that way. As suddenly as he moved away, Jack twisted round again, fixing Ianto with a burning gaze again, taking him by surprise. "I wait a year to be with you and I come back to find you're shacked up with some accountant."

"Hang on-" Ianto did a double take, momentarily swaying away from the surge of anger he felt at Jack's description of his current living conditions. "A _year_?"

Jack clamped his mouth shut again, eyes wide as he whirled around, stepping back to the edge of the building and looking out. "A month. I meant a month. I was gone for a month…"

Ianto shook his head a little, taking Jack's word for it that he's misspoken. Ianto noticed Jack's hands come around his chest again, as if he was holding his rib cage together. The sight made his heart ache so painfully that his hand reached out and he'd taken a step forwards before he could stop himself. He took a moment to think through what he was doing and dropped his arm, hanging his head as he debated what he should do.

Jack was in pain, pain that he was causing, but he couldn't do anything about that without causing pain to himself or Tom. He cursed silently for the predicament, but found himself wishing that Jack had never gone away in the first place, not that he'd never come back or that Tom had never arrived.

Turning around, he flicked his coat collar up and shoved his hands in his pockets. The confusion that had claimed his mind wasn't going to be solved by standing on a rooftop. He needed to get back to work and finish the day. He needed to go home to Tom before he did anything else with Jack that he might regret later.


	8. Chapter 7

This is another filler chapter, in an attempt to keep the story close to the lyrics, as it started! Don't worry, Friday's update will be one I expect you'll enjoy a fair bit, and saturday's gives you a chance to see the beginning of Tom and Ianto's relationship. It struck me that to help make it more believable, you needed to know the history I'd thought of in my head.

Please enjoy and thankyou to everyone who's reviewed!

**Disclaimer**: I sadly don't own them, they belong to the BBC and RTD

* * *

Chapter 7

_And I don't wanna possess you,  
__I don't wanna take his place.  
But I don't wanna see my last few pleasures,  
__Written all over his face_

Ianto had gone back to the Hub, ignored questions about Jack and finished up his work in time to leave promptly at eight that evening, thanks to a remarkably quiet Rift. He hadn't answered any of Tom's questions about work or Jack and had spent the evening watching films curled up on the sofa with his partner.

He'd slept very little during the night, but had managed to stay away from the Hub this time. Eventually, after as long as he could manage, he shook Tom awake and started getting ready for work. Together, they showered and dressed, Ianto trying to ignore the haphazard way Tom carried out his morning routines. It reminded him too much of Jack and he was avoiding thoughts of the other man as much as possible.

Tom on the other hand, knew that something must've happened at work, he could sense Ianto's agitation. It was blatantly obvious from how quiet the young man had been since he'd returned. He was just glad that he'd be there today to see what was happening for himself.

It was around nine in the morning when Tom and Ianto arrived for work, meeting Tosh and Gwen on the plass as they all made their way to the Tourist Office. They chatted happily as they made their way into the Hub and Ianto went straight to the coffee machine to fix them all a cup of coffee. Tom went over to his desk and threw himself down into the seat, opening up the spreadsheet he was almost finished working on.

Jack was standing in the boardroom, watching everyone from behind the blinds, hoping no one would notice him. He sighed heavily to himself as he watched Ianto move gracefully among the others, handing out coffees to the two women before making his way over to Tom, a happy smile on the other man's face as Ianto passed him his mug.

Jack watched silently as Tom pulled Ianto towards him by the waist, hugging him as Ianto stroked his hair gently. It was an intimate moment that Jack felt like he was intruding on, but he couldn't bring himself to drag his eyes away. _That should be me_, he thought, _that should be me holding Ianto_.

He sighed heavily again and forced himself to turn around and leave the room, heading out onto the walkway. When he looked around, he found Ianto heading towards him, his usual striped mug in the young man's hand. Jack forced a tight smile onto his face and took the mug with a curt nod, trying to ignore the spark that shot through him as Ianto's fingers brushed his own.

Ianto replied in the same forced manner and left to head down to the archives, Jack heading off to his office. It was going to be a long, hard day.

* * *

Jack survived the morning rather well, not having to encounter any of the other team members due to a rather ugly video conference with the Prime Minister and the head honcho at UNIT. At some point, Owen had arrived and silently slipped into his usual work role, probably due to a hangover.

As the smell of freshly cooked pizza drifted into his office, Jack chanced a look outside, his heart clenching at the sight of Tom and Ianto standing so close together in the kitchen area, Tom taking a bite of the slice Ianto was offering him. Without noticing him, the other two separated and headed over to the area behind Tosh's desk.

Jack took a few, hesitant steps forwards before he felt the persistent grip of the young Japanese woman on his elbow. She guided him to the coffee table and forced him to sit down on one of the desk chairs that had been pulled up. Jack looked at the pizza and felt a sudden lack of hunger. It was surprising, seeing as Ianto and Tom were making eyes at each other across the low table.

Somehow, Jack knew it was unintentional, he recognised the look of pure happiness on Tom's face. It was a look he knew he'd worn on some occasions before his trip, a look that couldn't be helped. It was something as natural as breathing and Jack wished desperately that he could have it back. It was that look that clarified three things in his mind as he chewed a slice of pizza slowly.

One: he really was in love with Ianto, more than he ever had been before. He was sure of it this time, which was what made things so much more painful. Two: Tom was in love with the young man as well, it was obvious. From the look in his eyes and the content smile on his lips, it was obvious. Three: Jack couldn't get in the way of whatever the two men had. No matter what claim he felt he had on Ianto, he couldn't act on it. He couldn't have Ianto back, not now.

His stomach churned with a mixture of feelings; guilt, grief and disgust forming a powerful and heady potion that forced him to stop eating and excuse himself.

"Damn it's hot in here." Jack sighed and stood up, rolling up his shirt sleeves and trying to ignore the looks from the others. "I thought I'd fixed that climate control, obviously not."

He glanced around and noted that everyone was dressed for the change in temperature, even Owen. Checking his wrist strap to gauge the temperature, he found that it had reached almost twenty eight degrees Celsius, much too hot.

"I'm going to go see if there's anything I can do before we have Myfanwy fainting from heat stroke or freezing to death in her sleep." Without a backwards glance, Jack headed off to the room that housed the complex computer system.

* * *

Several hours after Jack had disappeared, Ianto ventured down to the room he knew he would find the Captain in. If he was honest, he'd noticed the varying temperatures; the too cool air in Myfanwy's nest, the humid heat in Janet's block of cells and Jack's office and the general fluctuations in temperature around the workstations.

The young man carried a cup of coffee in one hand, silently wondering how awkward this interaction would be. He finally reached the half open door and pushed it a little more so he could walk through. He was met with the sight of Jack lying on his back, half of his torso underneath one of the sections, a screwdriver in his hand as he grunted in frustration.

"Anything I can help with, sir?" Ianto asked politely, half amused at the sight of the Captain actually trying to do maintenance. Unfortunately, Ianto had been a little too quiet on his approach and the startled Jack whacked his head off the underside of the console in surprise. He groaned loudly as he pulled himself out and sat up, rubbing his forehead gently.

"Not really, Ianto… But thanks." Jack reached out to take the coffee being offered and took a large mouthful, sighing in appreciation. "God, Ianto, this is _just_ what I needed. It's like you're psychic or something, you always seem to know what I want."

Jack looked up at the young man, his expression sincere. Ianto met his eyes for a brief, blissful moment before looking away, feeling a flush creep onto his cheeks, half in pleasure at the compliment, half in embarrassment at the inappropriateness of the situation.

"You're welcome, sir." Ianto smiled briefly and put his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do with himself. Jack just sat and drank his coffee, enjoying the momentary feeling of normality. Once he'd finished, he stood up and stepped towards Ianto, holding the mug out slightly. Ianto reached forwards and took it, their fingers brushing together briefly.

The momentary touch was enough to send thrills through both men, their hands pulling away sharply as they tried to forget what had happened. Jack was the first to look up, intrigued and hungry to see Ianto's eyes again. When the young man looked up, the expression glowing in the stormy blue depths made Jack move just a little closer.

Ianto felt the heightened emotions mingle with the smell of Jack in the warm room, his body swaying forwards slightly, uncontrollably. His lips were incredibly close to Jack's when he recovered the use of his limbs, but he couldn't pull away from the feeling of Jack's warm breath on his lips, so close to where he suddenly wanted to be.

No matter how intoxicated Ianto was, Jack felt the same. He was only managing to stop himself from closing the gap by sheer force of will. He wanted so badly to reach up and pull the young man towards him that his hands twitched impatiently. Finally though, a soft hum from one of the machines behind them broke the moment, shattering the atmosphere like a pane of glass under a mallet.

"I should- I should go, work to do." Ianto stammered, twisting away and hurrying from the room. Jack sighed wistfully, his shoulders slumping forwards as he savoured the brief sensation of Ianto's breath on his skin. Remembering the feel wasn't helping him in his quest to let Ianto go.

With a groan of annoyance, he rubbed his eyes again and dropped to the floor, crawling under the consoles again to bury himself in more maintenance. He had to try and get the young man out of his head, once and for all.


	9. Chapter 8

I quite like this chapter, I think it's a nice development of everything, though it doesn't actually solve anything key to the storyline. In other news, I've finished my nice and fluffy oneshot. That will come around later tonight, I hope some of you get a chance to read it

Please enjoy and thankyou to everyone who's commented!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything below, they all belong to BBC and RTD (except Tom of course, i keep forgetting him in my disclaimers)

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Chapter 8

Ianto grabbed Tom's hand as the walked from the car to their flat, leaning in close to the man as the climbed the stairs to the third floor. Tom smiled and wriggled his hand free, wrapping his arm round the young man's shoulders instead, kissing him gently on the side of his head as he unlocked the front door and guided him inside.

They'd had to stay later than usual due to a Rift 'burp' that had produced a number of objects that had to be retrieved and catalogued. Tom had stayed to make sure Ianto was okay, but he hadn't realised that it would be ten by the time they got home. He sighed inwardly as Ianto broke away from him, heading into the kitchen to make them both a coffee.

"Do you really think you should be drinking that at this time of night? You'll never get to sleep." Tom folded his arms and leaned on the doorframe, watching Ianto move systematically around the kitchen.

"I'll only have one. It won't keep me up too long." He turned and smiled wryly, Tom chuckling in reply before walking forwards and wrapping his arms around the Welshman's waist. Ianto leaned forwards and captured his lips in a soft, gentle kiss, feeling the smile that pulled at Tom's lips. "You know what, forget the coffee, I want to go to bed now."

Tom chuckled again and Ianto smiled in return, slipping his hands into Tom's and pulling him from the kitchen and through to the bedroom, kissing him again as he shouldered his jacket off and kicked his shoes across the room. Tom groaned in approval and wrapped his arms around the young man's waist again.

Ianto was careful not to let themselves get too carried away, keeping the contact limited to kissing, varying between intense, deep kisses to gentle, feather light connections. He knew that Tom was getting a little suspicious at his distance over the past couple of days, but he couldn't help himself. Every time he got too close, Ianto backed away a little, lowering the physical contact a bit and keeping things safe for himself.

Eventually, he pulled back and smiled, kissing Tom's neck gently and running his nose along the man's stubbly jaw line with a hum of contentment. No matter how dubious he was, he did still feel a powerful sense of safety and happiness in the other man's presence, and there was no doubt in his mind that he loved Tom.

"Come on, I think I need to get some sleep." Ianto looked into Tom's eyes and smiled briefly. Tom smiled in return and pressed a kiss to his forehead before taking his hand and pulling him down onto the bed, not bothering to change clothes.

Ianto sighed happily and pressed back into Tom's chest as he wrapped his arms around the young man's waist and pulled him close. Ianto closed his eyes and willed himself to forget the swirling colours that spiralled and spun across his closed lids. He evened and slowed his breathing, knowing from experience how to fake sleep.

He continued for several long minutes before he felt Tom's weight shifting as the other man got up to most likely tidy the flat a little before he too fell asleep. Ianto found himself lost in the pattern of his breathing in the dark silence and drifted off into an uneasy sleep. The last thing he remembered was the soft sound of Tom humming to himself from the living area.

_Ianto dreamed of a room, cold and grey, hostile like the interrogation room but with no mirror or exits. He looked around and found himself faced by two people; Jack and Tom. Jack stood with his arms crossed, a thoughtful look on his face as he stood and observed Ianto like an experiment. Tom was leaning back on the opposite wall to Jack, hands in pockets and legs crossed, a small smile on his face. _

_Ianto tried to take a step backwards, but his feet were glued in place. He tried to open his mouth to ask one of the questions flying through his mind, but his jaw wouldn't obey his commands. All he could do was look from one man to the other. From the dangerous to the safe, the childlike to the mature, the exciting to the mundane… From Jack to Tom._

With a soft jerk, Ianto found himself awake, shaking slightly despite the fact he was now under the covers. He pushed them back a little, careful not to disturb his now sleeping partner, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Taking a moment to orientate himself, he rubbed his eyes, confused and alarmed by his dream. There was only one way to sort this and it involved talking to someone he wanted to avoid at all costs.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up and headed out of the bedroom, tucking his shirt in as he walked and picking up his suit jacket from where Tom had placed it on the sofa. He slipped it on and found his work shoes, shoving his feet into them as he hurried to get his task over with. Grabbing his keys from the bowl in the kitchen, he left the flat, shuffling down to his car as he attempted to wake himself up a little more.

Glancing at his watch, he found it flashing 23:45 at him. So it was still the same day then. It had gone incredibly slowly. Maybe walking would help to straightened his thoughts out.

During his walk to the Hub, he found himself thinking of his past, not of his current predicament. Every so often, he would see a shop or a picture that reminded him of his childhood and his family. It was with a slight pang of sadness that he remembered burying his father in his first year of college. He'd dropped out soon after and landed a job at Torchwood One.

He walked slowly through his usual route across the plass and into the Hub once he reached the edge and winced slightly at the loud alarm, feeling the warm rush of air hit him as the door opened, proving that Jack's afternoon with the climate control hadn't worked very well. Ianto walked through the door and up towards the workstations. He was greeted by a confused looking Jack.

The sight of the captain did nothing to help Ianto's now wavering resolve. He'd removed his dress shirt and pushed his suspenders from his shoulders, smears of oil and dirt across his face, arms and the white under shirt.

"Ianto? Is everything okay?" Jack frowned at him, wiping his hands on the towel he was holding.

"Uhh, yeah, everything's fine." Ianto swallowed again and tried to avoid Jack's eyes.

"Then why're you here in the middle of the night?" Jack looked at him in concern, obviously worried about the man's mental stability again.

"I think we need to talk." Ianto looked at Jack and Jack returned the gaze. He knew that tone of voice and he knew how he'd be spending the next few hours. He nodded slowly before gesturing Ianto to follow him through to his office. Ianto settled himself into the visitors chair and waited for Jack to take his own seat on the opposite side of the desk. Once he'd sat down, Jack looked at Ianto thoughtfully for a few moments before leaning back in his chair and sighing.

"I need to know about your trip, Jack." Ianto looked down at his hands, leaning forwards in his chair. He heard Jack sigh and shift in his seat but didn't look up.

"I know. Where do you want me to start?" Jack asked, noting silently the way Ianto was calling him by his name.

"Well, why did you go?" Ianto asked, staring at his feet.

"I needed to talk to the Doctor." Jack replied, Ianto looking up sceptically. "I needed to see whether he could… _fix_ me."

"Fix you?" Ianto frowned a little.

"I needed to find out whether he could make me mortal again." Jack met Ianto's eyes with a strange intensity. He could tell that the young man didn't understand.

"But… why?" Ianto continued to frown.

"Do you think I like living endlessly? Not able to settle down with someone permanently? Have a family and be able to stay with them?" Jack asked in exasperation, sighing again and shaking his head. "It's horrible, faking your death so you can escape the holds of those you love, so you don't have to watch them grow old whilst time doesn't even affect you."

"Okay, I can understand that." Ianto replied quietly, thinking for a moment as to how to continue. "I can understand that. The only other thing I think I need to know is what happened."

"Why do you need to know that?" Jack's voice was suddenly harsh, protective.

"Because when you came back, you were different. You weren't the same as when you left. I want- no, I _need_ to know what happened to change you like that." Ianto met his eyes again and matched the stubborn look he was receiving, his tone harsh and demanding. He wasn't backing down.

"It was a year for me." Jack replied, not breaking away. Ianto swallowed his shock and continued to watch. "It was a year in which I died hundreds, if not thousands, of times. I watched as someone exterminated the human race, rounding up you lot and killing you all in front of me… Slaughtering _you_ because he knew how much you meant to me…"

"Slaughtering…?" Ianto's head was spinning. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't this.


	10. Chapter 9

**WARNING**: This chapter is extremely **M rated**, you've been warned.

I'd like everyone to know that I hear your concerns and problems with the timline of this fic loud and clear. If I could do it again, I would definitly change the amount of time Jack was away for. However, as I'm halfway through the story, I can't exactly back pedal now. Hopefully, I'll be able to clarify some things in the coming chapters.. it may help make the unbelievable timeline a little more acceptable.

Thankyou to everyone who's stuck with the story, depsite misgivings. It's really encouraging. That said, I'm extremely nervous about this chapter now, I hope it doesn't make anything worse (if it does, that may be because you need to wait for the future chapters to smooth things out).

Please enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, they belong to RTD and the BBC.

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Chapter 9

"Yes, Ianto." Jack looked away, his eyes dark and brooding, his jaw clenched. "I watched as you were tied up and shot through the head. I watched you – all of you – slump lifelessly across a carpet that would be clean of your blood in a matter of hours, no sign that anything had even happened."

Ianto exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair in shock. This definitely explained the change in Jack. It explained why he'd been so happy to get home to find them all. It was why he hadn't fought back over anything. With an overwhelming surge of pain and affection for the man, Ianto stood up and walked around the desk.

Jack had stood up too, backing away a little as if he was afraid of the young man. Ianto ignored this and reached forwards, gripping Jack's undershirt and pulling him towards him, lips meeting in a passionate kiss, hands moving around the other in search of comfort and solidarity.

Jack gave a soft groan of pleasure as Ianto bit gently on his lip, hands running over his back, under the material for skin on skin contact. Electricity ran through Ianto and he felt more alive than he had since before Jack had disappeared off to 1941.

"Ianto…" Jack groaned again as the young man's lips moved down his neck, sucking and biting gently at the warm, smooth flesh. He closed his eyes and tried to control himself, to stop the movement of his hands as his fingers traced the young man's sides gently.

"Don't fight it, Jack. Please…" Ianto was almost begging, aching for Jack to hold him close, if only for one last night. He brought his hands up to each side of Jack's face and kissed him deeply again, half desperately. Jack replied with just as much need, the hole in his chest feeling healed for the first time since it'd been blown open. Jack pulled the young man closer and let go of his lips to run his nose gently across his jaw line, inhaling his intoxicating scent and memorising the feel of their heartbeats mingling together.

"Not here… Not here, Ianto. I want to do this properly." Ianto nodded gently and allowed himself to be pulled across the office, following Jack down to his bunker below. Almost as soon as his feet hit the floor, he was pulled into another embrace, gentle and loving.

Ianto kissed Jack lightly, leaving their lips pressed together as hands rediscovered the other's body. Ianto felt Jack slowly and carefully slide his jacket off and unbutton his shirt, pulling his tie free and tossing all three garments to one side. He ran his fingers across Ianto's bare chest gently, tracing the outlines of his muscles until his hands rested at his waist, holding his hips lightly as their lips continued to reacquaint themselves.

Ianto pushed the tempo up and hastily pulled Jack's belt and trousers open, sliding his hands down his hips and into his underwear, resting tantalisingly close to Jack's long neglected erection. He groaned slightly as his hips bucked slightly, control long since lost. He felt Ianto smile and move his hands up to push his undershirt off, Jack taking the hint and releasing him just long enough to rip his shirt off and twist Ianto around, pulling him down onto the camp bed.

They both toed off their shoes and socks, lips never parting for more than a moment, Jack wrestling the young man down and straddling his hips, hands tracing his torso again until he reached Ianto's belt, pulling it open, pushing his trousers and boxers down with a little assistance.

Soon, they were both completely naked, arms wrapped around each other as Jack lay on top of Ianto, legs interlinked and lips pressed together, tongues dancing across each other as they lost themselves completely. Jack ran his hands down Ianto's sides lightly, resting on his thighs and pushing them apart gently, settling in between them. He stoked Ianto's throbbing shaft gently, causing the young man to gasp out loud and arch his back a little.

Jack chuckled at the sight, drinking in every detail as he worked, loving the way Ianto's breathing hitched and increased. After several glorious minutes, Ianto reached down and grasped Jack's hand, pulling it upwards and sucking gently on his fingers, their eyes meeting meaningfully. Jack nodded slowly and allowed himself to react to the sensation of Ianto's tongue teasing his fingers, his groin feeling sorely neglected again. He didn't make a move though, waiting until Ianto was finished before moving his hand back and tracing the young man's opening with one of his fingers.

He slipped it in and waited for Ianto, who shifted his weight a little to allow him better access. Jack worked one finger in and after a few strokes, slid a second one in, pushing deeper until he saw Ianto's eyes darken a little, his breath hitching again.

"Jack… I need you." Jack leaned down and kissed the young man deeply for a moment before pulling his fingers out and reaching for his faithful bottle of lube that sat under his pillow. He squeezed some onto his own shaft, not bothering to warm it, gasping as the cool liquid contrasted to the heat radiating off as he coated himself.

He saw Ianto smiling at him and realised he'd been biting his lip against the sensation. He smiled in return and positioned himself, the tension building inside of him as the anticipation of feeling Ianto around him again. It had been a very long year indeed. Carefully, he pushed in the entire way, waiting for Ianto to accommodate him. After a moment or two, Jack shifted Ianto's legs to wrap around his waist, pulling the young man up and against him, arms around his waist, supporting his hips.

He felt Ianto's hands wind into his hair and he pressed his nose into the young man's chest as he started to move. He could felt he tears prickling his eyes as he lost himself in the moment, determined to actually make love to Ianto instead of just having sex with him. All was quiet around them as they breathed heavily, pulses racing in exhilaration.

They moved together, the hips working to force each thrust as deep as possible, raising the pleasure received each time they moved. Jack felt Ianto press closer to him and realised he must be close, using the friction of their bodies to stimulate his erection.

He pulled his head back gently and whispered, "Come with me, Ianto."

Ianto nodded vaguely, eyes closed and head thrown back as he felt the pressure inside begin to build uncontrollably. He paid close attention to Jack's body, the tension in his muscles and the rate of his breathing, knowing that he was almost at the same point as himself.

"I can't, Jack, I'm so close." He gasped, his voice almost a growl as he fought to keep himself under control. He felt Jack press a kiss to his sternum and nod, his nose rubbing gently over his collar bone in approval.

One more thrust and Ianto let go, coming across them both with a yell, colours spiralling across his vision again as he closed his eyes against the continuing wave of pleasure that took him. The tightening of his body around Jack was all it took to push him into the same state. He stilled himself, panting against Ianto's chest, tears falling unchecked over his cheeks as he tried not to feel the loss of the connection between them.

He felt thumbs rubbing over his cheeks gently and opened his eyes, looking up as Ianto tilted his face towards him, a small smile on his face. Gently, he leaned down and captured Jack's lips in another kiss, a deep and loving kiss that conveyed a wealth of emotion. He gently moved himself free of Jack with a slight gasp, and pulled Jack down onto the bed with him, wrapping his arms around the strong body, holding him close.

"Thank you, Jack." He murmured, kissing the hollow of the Captain's neck gently.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Ianto… you know that." He rested his chin on the top of the young man's head and sighed slightly, tightening his grip on Ianto. They remained in the blissful, comforting silence for a long time. Both men lost track of how long they'd been there, enjoying the other too much to move or speak anymore.

Eventually, Ianto felt the light tug of sleep on his eyelids and shifted his position, the niggling voice in his head returning. _You're too comfortable, you'll fall asleep. You can't fall asleep, you have to go home. You can't stay here, not tonight…_ He frowned at his thoughts but acknowledged them as the truth. He couldn't stay in Jack's arms anymore, he had to be heading home.

"Jack-" Ianto began, pulling his head away slightly.

"I know." Jack sighed heavily and moved his arms to allow Ianto to sit up. "What're you going to tell him?"

"Everything." Ianto said after a moment's thought. "He needs to know. He's going home in a week or so, but that doesn't mean I can lie to him. We've been talking about me moving back with him, to UNIT for liason purposes. I don't know what I'm going to do anymore. Two weeks ago, I was ready to leave Cardiff behind, too many bad memories. I was all set to go, but now..."

Ianto trailed off and looked away. Jack felt his stomach lurch. "You love him."

Ianto nodded slowly. It was a statement, not a question. Ianto really did love Tom, maybe not in the same way as he loved Jack, but he still loved him. As his dreamed had showed him; the thrilling and exciting versus the safe and knwon. Sighing heavily he climbed over Jack and grabbed his boxers from where they'd fallen. "Yes, but I'm not _in_ love with him. I can't explain the difference, I just know it's there." Ianto moved on to find his trousers and pulled them on carefully, having to force himself to move, careful to avoid the mess that was still on his stomach. He walked through to the bathroom and gently washed it off, carrying a wet cloth through to sort Jack out.

He carefully cleaned Jack's torso and moved on to clean his arms and face of the smudges from the maintenance. After he was done, he bent down and pressed a kiss to Jack's forehead, pulling way to find Jack's eyes closed, a slightly pained expression on his face. Running his fingers gently over the Captain's cheek, he stood up again and fetched his shirt and tie, quickly pulling them on and slipping his arms through his jacket sleeves afterwards. By the time he was finished, he was as smart as he'd been when he arrived. He was just about to climb up to the office to leave when he felt himself twisted around, strong hands holding his face as Jack looked at him intently.

"I'll be here whenever you're ready, don't forget that. I'll be here waiting for you." Jack whispered, his voice deep and gruff from the tears he was desperately trying to withhold. Ianto just nodded silently and leaned forwards, kissing him deeply for the last time, their lips lingering on each other for a long, painful moment before he turned and left the bunker, the office and the Hub.


	11. Chapter 10

Hopefully this chapter may answer a few questions about the beginning of Tom and Ianto's relationship. Thankyou to everyone who's been reading (again) and stuck with it throughout! I intend to finish writing this stort tomorrow and then write some nice fluff for early next week to ease up on the angst of this story a bit more

Please enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, they belong to RTD and the BBC

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Chapter 10

… _Ianto let himself into his flat and sat down quietly on the sofa, resting his head back and closing his eyes, sighing discreetly so as not to wake his temporary lodger. It was the middle of the night and Ianto was exhausted, emotionally and physically. Yet another day had gone by with no sign from Jack._

_He felt the tears welling up behind his eyes and gritted his teeth against it. He'd already fought the battle with himself to stop pining over the Captain. Whilst he may have kissed him in front of the team, he'd never been what you could call 'reliable'._

_Captain Jack Harkness was a law unto himself. He did what he wanted, he had who he wanted and he didn't much care for the consequences. Too many times had Ianto turned up for work in the morning and found Jack cleaning up after the night before, smiling roguishly at him as he tried to help, his clothes smelling of someone else, after shave or perfume clinging to him sickeningly. Little did Jack know that every lipstick stained wineglass shredded Ianto's insides as if the glass had splintered as he drank._

_Still, whenever Jack had asked him to stay late, he hadn't hesitated, knowing that it wouldn't be paperwork they were doing. As soon as the others had left and Ianto walked into the office, he found Jack being his usual, charming self, all compliments and sweet-talk. Every single time, Ianto fell into his metaphorical arms, losing himself with one kiss from the Captain's skilled lips, no matter how insincere it was._

_There had been several occasions when it hadn't just been sex. It had been something more than that, emotional and tender. Jack was capable of love in those rare moments and that love was directed at Ianto. It was all he'd needed to justify being used on all the other occasions. He didn't care as long as Jack needed him in some way. He didn't care about the other part-time shags… Or did he?_

_The sound of footsteps jerked him back to the present, his head snapping up and eyes opening automatically to find the concerned face of Thomas Greene. Ianto had offered the UNIT accountant his spare room for his stay in Cardiff after a mix up in hotel bookings, seeing as none of the others had room. In the past couple of weeks since the other man's arrival, they'd become good friends, finding alot in common and sharing much the same sense of humour._

_"Ianto, are you okay?" Tom sat down on the sofa next to him, pulling the blanket around his shoulders a little tighter. Ianto looked over and smiled weakly._

_"I didn't think it would still be this hard." Ianto eventually muttered, more to himself than Tom._

_"Think that what would be this hard?" Tom's frown deepened a little as Ianto shook his head and buried it in his hands, sighing heavily. "Tough day? Did something go wrong?"_

_"No," Ianto immediately replied, not wanting the obvious seed of worry to sprout any further. "No, it's just draining, you know?"_

_Tom nodded and reached a hand out to squeeze Ianto's shoulder gently, sympathetically. Ianto looked up at that, meeting the other man's eyes in a sudden fit of recklessness. Tom didn't flinch away from the gaze and maintained it, his face understanding and calm. Ianto felt a slow spread of warmth in his stomach, a feeling he thought he'd long since passed up on._

_**Why am I still holding on for him? I loved him, sure… but he cheated, he used me and he didn't even care… The only time I suffered worse was whilst the half converted cyberwoman manipulated me to get into the Hub. Why am I still holding on for the pain? What could possibly happen to make Jack see me any differently than before?** Ianto frowned slightly, accutely aware of Tom's hand on his shoulder still._

_Making up his mind, he leaned forwards slightly and kissed Tom gently, pulling away after no more than a brush of lips on lips. He hesitated for a moment, gauging the other man's reactions and found the grip still on his shoulder, still comforting and reassuring. He leaned back in again and kissed him properly, a hand coming up to rest of Tom's face._

_He felt Tom release his shoulder and almost broke the kiss before he felt arms around his waist, gently pulling him closer. Ianto didn't resist at all, feeling safe and comfortable for the first time since Jack had left. He could feel the same spread of warmth in his stomach and realised it was peace, it was happiness and it was thanks to Tom that he was feeling it again_ …

Ianto forced himself to remember the event in living colour as he walked home, taking deep and calming breaths. He was silently hoping that he would find Tom still asleep on the bed, it would be so much easier without a confrontation that night. However, when he reached his front door and found light spilling out from under it, he realised that it wouldn't be that simple.

Taking a deep breath, he twisted his key in the lock and walked in. He wasn't surprised to see Tom on the sofa, holding his dressing gown tight around him, knees tucked up to his chest and his hair scooped back behind his ears. His eyes flicked over to the door as Ianto stepped in and then back to whatever comedy rerun he was watching.

Without a word, Ianto walked into the kitchen area, his eyes never leaving Tom as he made himself a cup of coffee. He sat down on the stool at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen area from the living area and started to drink, eyes flicking between the TV and the silent man, his nerves cooling a little as the silence carried on.

"Were you at the Hub?" Tom asked quietly, flicking the TV off and continuing to watch the blank screen.

"Yup." Ianto replied, not wanting to beat around the bush. Tom turned to look at him, his expression unreadable. There was nothing but a faint trace of sadness there.

"Were you with Jack?" His voice was quiet still, hitting Ianto hard as he pronounced each syllable.

"Yes, I was." Ianto looked away, taking another mouthful of his drink. When he looked up, he found Tom padding across the room to sit on the opposite side of the breakfast bar. Ianto watched as he sat down, pulling his robe around him again as if in a bid for safety or comfort. "I had to talk to him. There's things about why he went and what happened that I wanted to know. He's different, not his old self… And I can't decide whether it's an improvement or not."

"I don't care why you went, Ianto." Tom looked up, his eyes showing a little more betrayal. "I care what happened."

"We sat in his office and we talked." Ianto said curtly, finishing his coffee off before placing the mug on the counter and meeting Tom's eyes properly. Whilst he wasn't lying to him, he wasn't telling him the whole truth... it was getting harder and harder for Ianto to be able to confess, but he forced hismelf to keep face.

"And that's all you did? Just _talked_?" Tom's words were scathing, but Ianto nodded in reply. Tom shook his head in disbelief and looked away, his voice going quiet again. "Then why do you smell like him?"

"I what?" Ianto was taken aback, not seeing that one coming. "I _smell_ like him?"

"Yeah, you smell like him… Like some strange aftershave and whiskey. It's not you, it's not what you smell like…" Tom trailed off, suddenly realising how childish he must've sounded. Ianto looked away, his stomach twisting in knots.

"We were in his office for a long time, of course I'd end up smelling like him…" Ianto attempted to explain, knowing how feeble it sounded. "And I smell like you first thing in the morning… that's what's important."

"Yeah, I get it." Tom sighed and stood up, pacing up and down the room a little. "Why don't we just cut the crap now, Ianto?"

"You really want to know what's going on?" Ianto scowled slightly, avoiding Tom's now curious gaze. "I was in love with him, but he cheated, lied and used me without a care. I hated him, but I loved him at the same time, just because of a few rare nights with him.

"Two nights ago, I went to talk to him, I couldn't sleep and I needed to try and get rid of the thoughts running through my head. We ended up kissing, but he made me stop, told me to come back home and forget about it. Short answer? I couldn't." Tom had stopped mid pace, looking at Ianto incredulously. Ianto jsut plunged on, afraid to lose his nerve.

"I can't forget about him, Tom! I just… I can't be around him and forget about him and everything I felt for him… That's why I slept with him…" At that, Ianto felt his stomach disappear in a vat of acid, the corrosion eating through him as the guilt stung the edges of the wound. He couldn't hear Tom pacing anymore, but he couldn't bring himself to look up.

"You _shagged_ him?" Tom's voice was a mix of pain, disgust and anger. Ianto just nodded, still not able to look up. "Do I mean that little to you?"

"What?" Ianto's head flew up, cringing mentally at the look of betrayal on Tom's face. "No! Everything I've ever said to you was the truth, I promise."

"Everything?" Tom stood looking confused and extremely angry. After several moments of silence, Ianto stood up and walked over to him, stopping a few feet away, meeting his eyes flawlessly. Ianto nodded slowly, standing stock still, not wanting to push anything too far. Tom sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Ianto, it's the middle of the night, I can't do this right now… I'll sleep in the spare room tonight."

Tom turned away from him, shuffling off to the room that hadn't been in use for almost three weeks now. The door closed with sickening finality. Ianto sighed silently and sat down on the sofa. He wasn't going to be able to sleep, not now. For some reason, he hadn't expected to feel this hollow, this hurt by the thought of Tom leaving_. So, this is what it feels like to be a cheater…_ he mused silently. _This is what it feels like to hurt someone like that. I wonder if Jack ever felt like this?_

Growling slightly in annoyance, he pushed Jack from his mind again as he thought about how he could possibly salvage what was going on. On one hand, he wished he could be back at the Hub with Jack, be back lying next to him, in his arms. On the other hand, he wanted to stay with Tom, he wanted to prove that he did love him.

Moving back to London had never been so tempting, but it had never been such a hard decision for him to make. He could hold onto the hope that Jack had given him on his return and risk the pain it would cause himself and Jack when he died or Jack left, or he could stay with the man who'd been there for him at his worst, who could give him a life and perhaps even a family, should they ever decide to do so.

_Now is not the time... Now is really not the time..._ Ianto thought, willing his mind blank of all the thoughts to do with his less than immediat future. It was far too tiring for the middle of the night, they could wait til morning.


	12. Chapter 11

Yeah.. another interim chapter really, more the stick the story back to the lyrics than anything. I hope you like it and that the characterisations aren't too off (I think that's my main problem with this, Ianto's not characterised right). Comments and suggestions are much appreciated

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, they belong to RTD and the BBC (song lyrics belong to Del Amitri)

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Chapter 11

_And I have something to tell you  
__But it doesn't matter now  
I'll stick to small talk  
__And leave the little bits of flattery to him_

The next morning was uncomfortable for everyone. Tom had barely spoken two words to Ianto that morning, though he hadn't completely avoided him and he didn't have the same look of betrayal in his eyes. When they'd stepped into the Hub though, Tom had stopped dead at the sight of Jack looking at Tosh's computer. Ianto had heard a low growl of anger before seeing him storm off to the archives to collect today's set of data. Jack had approached Ianto then, weary of Tom's reaction.

"You okay?" Ianto nodded stiffly and sighed heavily as Jack put a hand on his shoulder in concern.

"Yeah, it went as expected, can't say I blame him though." Ianto shrugged himself free of Jack's grip and removed his jacket, throwing it onto the sofa behind them and rolling his sleeves up.

"Ianto, I'm really sorry about last night… It was a mist-" Ianto shot him a glare then, cutting him off mid sentence

"No it wasn't, Jack. It was a conscious decision that we made and I was just as involved as you were. I was the one pushing for it... And it really wasn't a mistake." Ianto gave Jack a meaningful look before he turned on his heel and headed to the coffee machine. Jack just sighed and went back to his office. It was going to be another long, hard day.

As the day progressed, Jack saw more and more signs of forgiveness from Tom as he warmed up in Ianto's presence; smiling, laughing and making contact with him, the complete opposite to his body language that morning. Silently, Jack cursed himself for not fighting for the young man, but he knew that he still couldn't get between the two men. He owed Ianto that. If he could make a relationship work after confessing that he'd slept with his ex, then hell, Ianto deserved to have the warmth and comfort of a stable partner.

* * *

Several more days passed in the same manner; Tom and Ianto healing their precariously balanced relationship and Jack becoming more and more withdrawn from his team and the young man, especially as Tom had been showing up every day, not just his pre-stated ones.

Several times, Gwen had attempted to talk to him about it, valiantly offering him her shoulder to cry on. After the first few times, the appreciation turned into annoyance. Couldn't she leave him to wallow in his self pity?

Owen was a different matter altogether. His casual shunning of the situation made Jack feel strangely welcomed. Owen was observing the universally accepted rule of; Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Something which the males of the species did extremely well. This reaction assured Jack that Owen wasn't angry or annoyed at him anymore, something which eased his pain a little.

Tosh was the only one of the team that he liked talking to. She would come by mid afternoon to hand over all reports from the day and talk to him about everything but Ianto and the year that never was. She really helped Jack hold himself together and he'd never appreciated the woman more than he had since his return.

However, nothing the other three could offer made him forget about Ianto. He soon realised that his day dream of forgetting about him and letting him go without any fight was nothing but stuff and nonsense. He'd spent a century with people who did nothing but satisfy the physical, rarely helping the emotional. Ianto had been one of those people, but now he was more than that. Jack's soul felt clean and whole when Ianto held him, smiled at him, spent time with him. He wasn't about to let that go. But would Ianto let him keep on fighting?

With another sigh, he got up from his seat, acknowledging that he still couldn't come between Tom and Ianto again. He couldn't do anything to hurt the relationship because that wouldn't make Ianto want him, it would make him resent him. Resentment was the last emotion Jack wanted from Ianto. He stepped out of his office for the first time that day and headed over to Tosh's station, looking over her shoulder as she continued working on some new program – she always seemed to be coming up with them.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed someone moving around the basin. Looking over, he saw Ianto with a tray, picking up discarded mugs and making his way to the kitchen area. _He looks amazing…_ he thought before he could stop himself. Ianto was dressed in a dark grey, pinstriped suit, the jacket and trousers tailored to perfection, complimenting every line and curve of his figure, hiding any imperfection there might possibly be. He remembered commenting a while ago to Ianto that he particularly loved that suit.

He was just contemplating saying something when he noticed Tom meet him in the kitchen area, smiling at him. Their conversation wasn't hard to over hear, no matter how much Jack tried to avoid it.

"So, thought anymore about that UNIT Liaisons job offer?" Tom asked, Jack's heart flipped.

"I dunno, my family's here, my job, my home…" Ianto sounded a little unsure of his words, but Jack didn't know why.

"Yeah, but you said yourself, you're never going to get a promotion here, there's nothing more you can get from the job." Tom moved a little closer to him as Ianto flicked the coffee machine on. "Your brother's living in London anyway and your mum lives thirty minutes away from here, you said yourself that you barely visit her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ianto smiled and started to make the coffees to pass around.

"I always am." Tom grinned and Ianto laughed in reply, letting Tom lean in to kiss him gently on the lips. "But seriously, please think about it? I really want you to come back to London with me, even if only for a few months to see what you think."

"Okay." Ianto nodded and smiled again, making another coffee as Tom pushed himself away from the counter and took a few steps away. As if on a second thought, he twisted around with another smile on his face.

"By the way, I don't think I told you how much I loved that suit." He winked and Ianto grinned again as Tom walked away, hands in pockets and whistling to himself, heading back down to the archives. Jack turned away at that, silently seething at the compliment. _So he's stealing my lines as well as my man?_ His eyes mentally narrowed and he felt a surge of anger, the fighting spirit returning. He didn't even realise how ridiculous it was to refer to Ianto as 'his man'... When had he ever owned him?

However, when Ianto appeared beside Jack handed him his coffee, the look of peace on his face make him think twice again. He couldn't take that away from Ianto, not again. _Damn you, Jack Harkness… You love him and you can't even say so_, he chided himself, stalking back into his office to brood a little more over his distinct lack of Ianto.

* * *

The first day, Tom had been distant. Sure, they'd smiled and talked, but he hadn't been his usual self. Ianto had just held his breath when they returned to the flat that night, not sure how to cope with it just being the two of them. Luckily, Tom picked up the phone and ordered in a couple of pizzas before sticking a DVD on for them to watch.

They spent that evening on the sofa, eating and drinking together amiably. Tom still slept in the spare room, but Ianto didn't go to sleep with the feeling of his insides slowly digesting themselves. It was a definite improvement.

The next morning, Ianto had been greeted in the kitchen by a kiss on the cheek and a smile, something which had made him smile in relief, his heart reviving a little. The following few days had continued to see an improvement between them. Whilst they'd not talked about what had happened, Tom had made it clear that he didn't hold it against the young man anymore. He blamed Jack fully. After a third night apart, Tom even moved back into Ianto's bedroom.

On about the fifth day after sleeping with Jack, Tom had asked him once again about moving to London. He'd been thinking it over almost every second of the day, a long list of pros and cons formed in his mind's eye. He was still no closer to choosing than he had been several days ago. Now it was the evening and Tom was looping his arm around Ianto's waist as they walked out of the Hub.

_At least we're back on track now_, Ianto thought with a slightly wistful smile. No matter how safe he felt with Tom, a part of him still ached to be with Jack. Somehow, he didn't think that was ever going to go away, not even with all the time in the world.


	13. Chapter 12

There's a proper progression of the story, not just development and filler this chapter.. I hope you enjoy it! It was one of the major events (though it did evolve from the original) that I planned out all those weeks ago, before the fic got longer than a few thousand words. I really hope it works for you all!

Pleas, please enjoy! Comments, as always, are absolutely adored

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters except for Tom, the rest belong to RTD and BBC (lyrics belong to Del Amitri)

* * *

Chapter 12

_And I could call you,  
__But why would I bother to?  
You might not be in or he might misunderstand  
Just like a man_

_Tap, tap, tap, tap…_

Jack drummed a steady rhythm on the top of his desk.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap…_

He chewed the inside of his cheek in thought as he looked at the phone sitting only a few feet away.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap…_

His eyes flickered between the phone and his fingers several times before he sighed in annoyance and spun around, fingers leaving the desk and eyes leaving the phone. He was resisting the strong urge to call Ianto. The conversation he'd overheard that afternoon had thrown several things into sharp relief.

He could easily lose Ianto to the UNIT Liaisons offices in London, he would have to accept that Ianto had moved on and he would have to let him go completely. Jack wasn't prepared to do that anymore. He'd thought the transfer was just a whim that would go away, but with him seriously considering it, Jack no longer found himself able to concentrate on anything but that. UNIT wouldn't be poaching anyone from _his_ team.

Mostly though, Jack just missed the sound of Ianto's voice.

Clearing his throat decisively, Jack spun back around and grabbed the receiver, punching in the speed dial for Ianto's home phone and leaning back as he held it to his ear, his teeth worrying at his bottom lip again as he listened to the rings.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the phone wasn't the voice he was expecting. _Shit_, he thought, cursing himself for being so stupid. Without a second thought, he cut the connection and left his chair, needing to find something else to do to stop him from calling Ianto's mobile instead.

* * *

The phone rung and Tom jumped up to get it, Ianto currently being tangled in a blanket on the sofa. He placed Tom's plate of food on the coffee table with his own and sat watching the other man pad across the room, pick up the receiver and glance at the caller ID before holding it to his ear.

"Hello?" Tom frowned slightly and put the phone back down with an unusual amount of accuracy, a warning sign to Ianto.

"Who was that?" He asked, doing his best to remain calm.

"They hung up." He murmured. Tom didn't turn around, one hand still resting on the phone, the other holding his wineglass loosely.

"Okay, but who was it?" Ianto had disentangled himself and walked over to the kitchen area to get himself another beer. He turned around and leaned back on the counter, looking at Tom, who'd now turned to face him.

"Like you don't already know…" Ianto was alarmed by the anger on Tom's face, his knuckles now white around his glass. Ianto didn't move an inch.

"I seriously don't, Tom. What's going on?" Ianto shifted slightly to brace himself against the counter, bringing his head forwards from where it was resting on the cupboard behind him.

"First he gets you into bed and then he calls for a _chat_." Tom spat the last word out, venom evident in his voice.

"He did not 'get me into bed', Tom! As much as you may hate to think it, it was a two way decision, as much mine as his, so stop blaming him!" Ianto snapped, suddenly feeling defensive over Jack. He'd had enough of Tom thinking he was Jack's victim. "Now, what's going on?"

"Why don't you ask _him_?" With the last word, he hurled the wineglass across the room. Ianto brought his hand up to shield his face as the glass shattered against the cupboard door, only inches from where he'd just flinched away from.

He felt several hot slices of pain across his palm and cheek as blood ran freely from several deep cuts. He pulled his hand away to look at it, but Tom was already at his side, pressing a clean towel to his hand.

"Oh God, Yan… I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I'm so sorry…" He was murmuring, tears evident in his voice, all traces of anger and annoynce now vanished.

"Tom, it's okay." Ianto forced his voice to be calm and used his free hand to lift the other man's face so he could see him. "It's okay. I need to call Owen for him to take a look, alright?"

Tom nodded slightly and Ianto took his hand from the other man's grip, holding the towel against it and ignoring the pain in his cheek. He walked slowly through to the bedroom and found his phone in his jacket pocket. Flicking it open, he selected Owen's mobile number and walked back through to the living area, sitting down on the sofa and angling his head to one side in a vain attempt to avoid blood dripping from his cheek onto his collar, despite the fact that there was already a growing stain where the material met his neck.

"Owen?" One the fourth ring, the doctor had picked up. "Owen, it's Ianto. I need you're help over at my flat… I've had an accident and I need you to take a look at some cuts… Yeah, several pretty deep, I'm thinking maybe stitches… I don't think there's any from what I can see… Irrigate? Warm salt water? Sure… Okay, see you in ten."

With that, he snapped the phone closed and looked back over at Tom, who was already mixing up the solution to clean Ianto's wounds. With his free hand, Ianto un buttoned his shirt to keep it as dry as possible, despite the fact that it was clearly already ruined, the blood soaked into the left hand side of the collar and right sleeve cuff.

"Here…" Tom took his injured hand gently and held it over the sink, washing the blood away. Ianto watched as the red tendrils dispersed through the water swirling down the drain, his mind still reeling from what had happened. "Ianto?"

"Hmm?" Ianto looked up in surprise, not realising how deep in thought he'd been. Meeting Tom's eyes, he found they weren't showing the emotion his voice was conveying, they looked only vaguely worried. He smiled at Ianto before gesturing to his cheek.

"I need to wash your cheek now, so you've got to bend over the sink a little." Tom shrugged apologetically and guided Ianto's head down towards the sink, Ianto resting his uninjured cheek on the cool metal rim of the basin. Whilst the salt water stung the particularly deep cuts, it felt good to clean the now dried blood from his skin.

In no time, there was a knock on the door and Tom rushed to get it. He greeted Owen casually and showed him into the flat, the doctor heading over to the sofa where Ianto was now sitting again, pressing the towel to his hand. Owen laid down the med kit he'd brought with him and sat down next Ianto, pulling his face roughly into a position where he could see it best.

"You're lucky I hadn't had a drink... Next time you want to slice yourself up, tea-boy, don't do it in the middle of the night, please?" Owen asked sarcastically, already busying himself with cleaning the wounds with antiseptic and assessing them. "Okay, your hand will need stitches, the one on your cheek and the one next to your eye will as well. A couple of the others will need steri-strips, but otherwise, you'll survive."

"Thanks, Owen." Ianto managed to smile, wincing slightly at the sting of the needle in his hand as Owen began to patch him up.

"Dare I ask how this happened?" Owen concentrated on his work, but the intrigue was evident in his voice. Ianto opened his mouth to answer, but Tom beat him to it.

"He knocked something off the counter and bent down to get it. I put something down and it knocked his wineglass off. The shards hit him when they bounced up." Tom met Ianto's eyes sharply and for once, Ianto didn't find it comforting. However, he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Yeah. I guess I should be more careful of falling breakables." Ianto said, his voice still falsely calm so as not to alert Owen to any discrepancies in their recollections. Little did he know that Owen was putting on as much of a front as the other two men. Ianto wasn't clumsy and flying glass shards wouldn't have cut his face from the angle they must've done from the way Tom told the story. The fact that the other man had immediately jumped to explain reminded Owen of times in the hospital when the spouse gave the explanation for a black eye or a broken rib. He thought he'd left the horrors of domestic abuse behind when he'd left London.

_Don't get ahead of yourself, you don't know that's what happened._ Owen scolded his medical side harshly. _There's never been any other signs of it, so why jump to conclusions now? _He continued to reason, his logical side temporarily winning the fight with his intuition.

He finished working on Ianto in silence but had made a conscious effort to do his best work on the facial lacerations, not wanting Ianto to have bad scars, no matter how much they bashed heads together over issues at work. After several long minutes, Owen tied off the last stitch and covered the three major wounds with dressings.

"You know the drill with the stitches. Wound check in two days, just find me in work, and stitches out in seven. Keep your hand and cheek dry and change the dressings once a day." Owen was using his best doctor voice to keep himself from showing how uncomfortable he was getting into the middle of whatever argument the two men had been having. Quickly, He taped several of the smaller lacerations up with steri-strips and patted Ianto on the shoulder.

He flicked his kit closed and picked it up, walking over to the door with a forced smile on his face. The other two men bid him goodbye and Owen left the flat with a feeling of unease. As he got into his car, he couldn't shake the image of Ianto sitting on the sofa, covered in dressings, and Tom closing the door behind him with a weary smile on his face, one that didn't reach his usually friendly eyes.


	14. Chapter 13A

Here's the first of today's double parter. I'll be posting the next one either tonight (after I get back from seeing Wall-E, which might be too late for me to get on the computer) or first thing tomorrow morning. I'm aiming for today though.

I hope you all enjoy this! It's Owen and Jack's time to shine! Please comment, they're love :)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the boys but Tom (which I kinda wish I didn't), they belong to RTD adn the BBC.

* * *

Chapter 13A

Jack knew something had had happened in the time since the team had left night before at roughly eighty thirty in the morning.

He was surprised when he was drawn from his office by the sound of the proximity alarm. For a minute, he even let himself believe that Ianto must've made a decision. However, when he saw the new arrival, his mouth hung open as the surprise he'd been hoping for turned out to be a surprise he'd not expected at all. Instead of seeing Ianto, who hadn't arrived before the others since Jack's return, he saw Owen standing with a grim expression on his face.

Not only was he in uncharacteristically early, he usually turned up an hour later than everyone else, his face was as serious as ever Jack had seen it before, aside from the look on his face in the graveyard as he stood over Katy's grave. Jack immediately snapped his jaw shut and gestured for the medic to head through to his office. With a curt nod, Owen stepped past him and stood in the middle of the room.

"What's going on?" Closing the door, Jack walked slowly around behind his desk and sat down, hands clasped.

"I did a report." Owen delved inside his bag and produced a cardboard file containing a couple of sheets of paper and handed it to Jack. "All the details are in there."

Jack frowned slightly as he took the folder and flipped it open, scanning through the sheets of writing. Owen noticed the Captain's expression darken as he read until his face was filled which barely contained anger. Finally, breathing in a very controlled manner, Jack looked up and fixed Owen with a searching look.

"Abuse?" Jack's voice was low and deadly. Owen knew precisely what he must be thinking. Jack never got like this unless he was one hundred percent livid over something. All the doctor could do was nod in return, his own expression still grim. "You think he could do it again?"

"Yes." Jack nodded slowly at his reply, but Owen carried on. "The way he took over the situation was classic behaviour of someone who not only has the mentality to repeat it, but possibly the experience. The ease with which he made up the excuse didn't exactly convince me either.

"Look, I know it's been a long time since I worked in a hospital, but I saw more cases of Domestic Abuse than I would care to remember. All the warning signs were there. I didn't say anything last night, but we can't let this lie. You should know that Ianto's been seriously considering asking for a transfer to UNIT Liaisons in London."

"I know." Jack said quickly, knowing what that would mean for his living arrangements. His mind was already working in over time to come up with the best possible way to address this. The first thing he did was fold the file closed and lock it in the safe next to his desk. "You don't say a word of this conversation to anyone, not even Ianto. You've done your job now, Owen, I'll take care of this. I need you to stay professional and act as normal as you can. Treat Ianto's wounds and keep an eye on him when you can."

Owen nodded again and silently left the room, heading out of the Hub via the invisible lift and walked across the plass to spend the next hour or so in a coffee shop. The first step in acting normal was to turn up late. _I don't envy Tom his position, but I want to be there when Jack kicks his arse_, he thought grudgingly as he headed into the local Starbucks.

* * *

As soon as Jack knew Owen was gone, he slammed his fist down hard on his desk before flinging a pile of reports across the floor with a backhand from the same hand. All he could think of right then was tearing Tom multiple new orifices in many uncomfortable and painful places.

After allowing himself several moments of blinding rage, he forced himself to calm down, taking deep breaths and doing a mental inventory of the secure archives. He was half way through the list when he felt himself to be calm enough to stop and consider how to deal with the situation.

He needed to talk to Ianto alone, but he suspected that Tom would make that hard. He'd need to come up with a cover for it, something to stop the other man from becoming suspicious or protective of Ianto. As soon as he thought of it, he knew what he needed to do for the cover. With a grin, he spun round in his chair to face his computer and opened up his email. He set the message to send to all four of his team and started to type:

_Dear Torchwood Three Employees,_

_Since my return, certain aspects of my leadership have been thrown into sharp relief. My first step in making the team more efficient and organised will be to hold one on one meetings with everyone to document progress and suggestions. _

_Times are below. I expect everyone to be on time and prepared unless, of course, the world decided to end in your time slot. Each meeting will last for as long as I deem necessary. If you have a problem with your time, discuss it with me in your allocated meeting._

_**Gwen Cooper - 10:30  
**_**_Ianto Jones - 11:30  
_**_**Toshiko Sato - 13:30  
**__**Owen Harper - 14:30**_

_Capt. Jack Harkness_

With a grimace, Jack hit the 'send' button and sat back. His mind flickered back to Owen's reaction, his intuition making him follow procedure that technically didn't stand in his way anymore. The report and phrases such as '_uncharacteristically submissive to treatment_' and '_possibility for future incidents_' rising unbidden in his mind.

Glancing at the computer screen to find the time, he realised he only had a matter of minutes left before the team, minus Owen, would turn up for work. That meant only a few more minutes to compose himself completely. The need to punch Tom in his smug mouth was only just being restrained. That would need to be worked on if he was going to put a stop to this situation without Ianto getting hurt again.

When the proximity alarm went off again several minutes into his calming exercise, he leaned back in his chair to watch through the window. Not even Owen's report could prepare him for the sight of Ianto.


	15. Chapter 13B

I said today's chapter was going to be a two parter, but when I came to write this part, it evolved again into a three parter because I wanted to include Tosh and Gwen's meetings as well. So yeah! Extra part for you all, I hope you like it!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, they belong to RTD and the BBC

* * *

Chapter 13B

Ianto looked tired and defeated, something which Jack hadn't seen him like for a very long time. He was dressed in his usual three piece suit with a grey shirt and a darker tie. He had rungs under his eyes form lack of sleep and his skin was paler than usual, starkly contrasted by the flashes of angry red across his cheek from the more superficial scratches.

The left side of his face was a mess. There were two large wound dressings, one next to his eye and one along his jaw line. The middle of his cheek had obviously been shielded by his right hand, the damage to it covered by a bandage around his palm and the top of his wrist.

Whilst he was surrounded by the rest of the team, minus Owen, he looked weary and slightly on edge, not chatting casually with Tosh and Gwen as was usual for the morning. Tom seemed to be doing most of the talking, something which didn't strike the two women as different to usual, Ianto having made the excuse of not sleeping well for his quietness.

Jack growled slightly at the sight of the young man and turned away, not wanting to watch any longer. He knew he wouldn't be able to control his temper if he did so. Instead, he busied himself with cleaning up the pile of paperwork he'd thrown across the room. Before he realised what time it was, Gwen was knocking on his door and he was waving her in. She closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair opposite him, looking a little confused.

"Jack, is everything okay?" For once, her over concern for his welfare and her perceptiveness to his mood was a blessing. There was no need to pretend about progress meetings with her. "This isn't a progress meeting, is it?"

"Nope." Jack smiled at her wryly and sat back. "What we talk about in here needs to stay between us, it's vitally important."

"Of course, Jack." She nodded solemnly and waited for him to continue.

"What do you think about Thomas?" He asked casually, watching her closely for her reaction.

"I think he's a nice guy, sweet and fun to be around." She replied honestly. Jack just nodded and turned in his seat a little. She sensed right then that he wasn't going to elaborate anymore and she accepted that. She knew that he would talk to her when he felt the need to.

After that, they spent a while talking about everything, Jack wanting to know how Rhys was, what they'd been up to since he left, how her family was, how _she_ was. He didn't bring up Tom again. Finally, after they'd both sobered up from laughing at a particularly amusing anecdote, Gwen excused herself back to work.

Feeling in a remarkably better mood, Jack continued with paperwork, filling out and ordering the papers that he'd collected up. He was sitting in the middle of the floor, sheets lying around him in various piles as he sorted them alphabetically, when he heard another knock on the door and looked up to see Ianto standing in the doorway, looking down at his feet.

"Ianto," He said, standing up and dusting his hands off on the front of his trousers. "Come in, take a seat." Ianto stepped in tentatively and sat down, his shoulders still tense and his expression schooled into a look of relaxation that didn't fool Jack. "How're you?"

"I'm fine, sir." Ianto replied, his voice a little deadened as he continued to avoid Jack's eyes.

"Did you go weevil hunting without me last night?" Jack tried to joke, but when Ianto met his eyes with a weary smile, Jack's face dropped back to a serious expression. "What happened, Ianto?"

"Just an accident, sir. It doesn't really matter." His false smile became a little more reinforced and Jack recognised that he was starting to close off a little.

"Yes it does, Ianto. I want to know what happened to you." Jack's face dropped further into a slight frown. "I don't want to have to order you to tell me."

"I was picking up a towel I'd dropped on the floor and Tom put something on the counter next to me, but it knocked my wineglass off onto the floor." Ianto recited, his words sounding rehearsed. "The glass shards bounced back up and cut me."

"Ianto, we both know that there are several major flaws in that explanation." Jack almost rolled his eyes but resisted the urge. "First of all, you're not that clumsy, you would've moved away from the glass as it fell. Secondly, the force needed to make some of the cuts wouldn't have been produced from a simple fall. Thirdly, when a glass hits the floor, the shards spread out horizontally."

Ianto looked at him with a curious expression for a while, Jack meeting his eyes without hesitation. After a minute or so, he smiled wryly. "I assume you can also tell that it wasn't me who came up with that excuse?"

"Of course." Jack smiled in return, sitting back in his chair and watching the young man smile to himself, already looking more relaxed than he had for the entire day. Little did Jack know that Ianto was also feeling a lot safer than he had since he'd left the Hub the night before. "So what really happened?"

"You called and Tom answered." Ianto met his eyes again, his usual, slightly sarcastic look on his face now. "He got angry and blamed you for everything and I corrected him. He snapped and threw his wineglass at me. I managed to avoid it, but it shattered against the cupboard behind me and the shards flew out. It was only an inch or so away, hence the damage it caused."

"He threw a wineglass at you?" Jack glowered, allowing himself to feel some of the anger and resentment he was currently battling with.

"In the heat of the moment, sir." Ianto replied tiredly, his head leaning back, eyes closed as he allowed himself to rest his muscles for a few minutes.

"You're okay now? To be honest, you look terrible." Jack's voice was now full of sympathy and concern, what he felt for the young man overriding what he felt for what happened to him.

"I didn't sleep well last night. When I looked at him afterwards, something had changed, his eyes were different, almost smug. I couldn't sleep easily knowing he was next to me still." Ianto admitted with a heavy sigh, looking away from Jack. He couldn't bring himself to look at him, it would be too hard not to break down and go running straight back into his arms.

"If you weren't feeling safe at home, you should've come back here." Jack said in his professional tone. When Ianto looked at him sharply, he continued. "You could've slept in one of the rooms downstairs. You shouldn't have to feel unsafe in your own home, Ianto."

"I know." Ianto replied shortly, looking away again, his expression moody. "I guess I didn't want to be forced from my own home. Anyway, if it's alright with you, sir, I need to get back to work. I have to go feed Myfanwy and Janet."

Jack thought about stopping him but eventually nodded and watched as he left the office, straightening his back and shoulders out, putting on his front again. Jack sighed inwardly and wished that he could have saved Ianto from what had happened.

Knowing it was too late for that, he buried himself back in his work over the lunchtime, ignoring calls fro lunch, claiming that he wasn't hungry. He'd finished all his work and was making his way through cataloguing the secure archives when Tosh walked into his office, two cups of coffee in her hands. She smiled and handed him his mug before turning back to close the door. Jack smiled thankfully in return and went back to his desk, sitting down to take a long drink of his coffee, groaning in appreciation as the rich taste hit his tongue.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about, Jack?" Tosh sat and looked at him earnestly, waiting for direction. Jack felt a tug inside him at her expression and felt a wave of affection for the woman. She was almost like a little sister to him.

"You may already have guessed that this isn't a progress meeting." Tosh laughed and nodded. When Jack sobered up, she followed his direction and put down her mug, watching him seriously. "Have you noticed anything different between Ianto and Tom today?"

"Ianto and Tom?" Tosh frowned slightly, thinking to herself and diligently scanning her vast memory to collect any details that could be relevant. "Well, Ianto looks pretty shaken up, almost like after the incident in the Brecon Beacons. He doesn't look like he slept much last night to be honest, and those cuts are pretty nasty. He wasn't talking much today, Tom was doing most of it for him. Every time he said something, Tom cut him off and took control again. I did think that was a little strange."

Jack nodded again seriously. That was what he'd thought himself when the team turned up. If Tosh had noticed it as well, then it couldn't just be his wishful thinking. He started to collate all this information in his head for when he met with Owen later on.

"Thanks, Tosh." Eventually, he spoke again and smiled at the woman. "Now, from you, I actually do need a report. I need to know your updates of the Rift Manipulator and the predictor program. I haven't had a chance to talk to you about it yet."

Tosh's face smoothed out as she visibly lightened, happy to talk about something that was a lot easier for her to explain. Whilst she cared about Ianto a great deal, they were very close friends, she didn't like feeling helpless and she felt very helpless when it came to something like this. She usually trusted Ianto to come talk to her if he needed to and very rarely started the conversation herself.

They talked about technological advancements for a while, but eventually, Jack was fully informed on the situation and felt like he knew what was going on. With a smile and 'thank you' he told her she could go back to work.

As Tosh left the office, Jack's buoyant exterior dropped and he frowned at the floor. When Owen turned up for his meeting, they would be talking about how to stop Tom from leaving with Ianto. Jack knew that the two women would need to be involved, for their sakes and for Ianto's, but the logistics needed to be worked out first.

It wasn't a conversation Jack was looking forward to.


	16. Chapter 13C

Okay, I'm well aware that this chapter is basically three chapters in one, but it was the only way to get everything in that I wanted to get in without changing the total amount of chapters... and I was too lazy to go through and edit all the titles! Apologies there, though I doubt any of you really mind

I hope you enjoy today's final part. More to come tomorrow, but for now, please, please enjoy and comment!

**Disclaimer**: As always, I don't own anyone but Tom (sdaly). The characters and location belong to RTD and the BBC

* * *

Chapter 13C

Shuffling into Jack's office a few minutes late, Owen yelled something at Ianto concerning coffee. Evidently, the 'tea-boy' hadn't been around with his latest caffeine hit. Jack raised an eyebrow as Owen grumbled under his breath.

"What?" Owen looked up and questioned Jack's expression. "You said 'act normal', so I am. I haven't had a coffee for hours and I would've started yelling by now."

Jack snorted in amusement and turned to sit back down at his desk for the fourth time that day. Owen closed the door and headed to the guest chair, dropping down into it haphazardly.

"Busy day?" Jack asked wryly, an amused smile on his lips. Owen just gave him a withering look and rubbed his eyes.

"Lets just say, what with worrying about tea-boy, filling in that case report and getting in early to talk to you, I didn't get my usual amount of sleep." Owen looked up and smiled apologetically. Jack smiled sympathetically in return. "Well, you made any 'progress' today?"

"Yes, actually. Tosh has noticed a difference too. It's not just us." Owen grimaced and Jack's smile left his face. "We're going to have to stage an intervention, Owen. He was afraid to fall asleep, we can't let him go back home with Tom. I _won't_ let him."

"That's going to be hard, Jack." Owen sighed and shook his head slightly. "Tom's had an eye on Ianto all day. Granted, tea-boy spent most of it down in the archives, but when he's up with us, Tom's always watching."

Jack growled slightly and Owen recognised his anger surfacing, the Captain's expression getting noticeably darker.

"We need to keep Ianto downstairs. I think if Tosh can change the time on the clock he has down there then we can gain about ten minutes or so." Owen said, surprising even himself with the deviousness of his plan. "Then we all corner Tom before he leaves. The girls need to be there as well, for a united front against him."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Jack nodded and thought some more to himself, Owen doing the same. They were both running down a list of what needed to happen and what needed to be said. They both reached a conclusion at pretty much the same time. "We need to have a team meeting, in here, without Ianto and Tom."

Owen just nodded in agreement and let Jack stand up and head round to the door. He flung it open and swung round the frame. "Tosh, I need you to come in here a minute, Owen needs help with some technology he found in the latest corpse."

Tosh met his eyes and in a split second, she understood. With a nod and a casual 'sure', she paused what she was doing and headed over to the office. The three of them had a meaningless conversation for a few minutes, to lend authenticity, and Jack stood up again, strolling just outside of his office and looking around for Gwen, who was heading towards him.

"Gwen!" She stopped just in front of him with a smile. "I need you to come in and help mediate an argument those two are having. Seems Owen thinks he's found an alien pace maker, but Tosh thinks it's some form of energy oscillator."

He raised his eyebrows slightly and she nodded with a smile before stepping around him into Jack's office. He followed and closed the door behind them, smiling at the sight of Tosh and Owen happily chatting about the latest football game, in which the England team actually won despite all odds. Gwen looked a little surprised, but followed Jack over to his desk, where he took his seat again.

"Okay, here's the deal," Jack began with a deep breath. "The cuts Ianto got last night are from Tom throwing a wineglass at him. It missed, but the shards rebounded."

Jack stopped to let them all absorb the news. Owen shook his head in disgust, having suspected as much, but the two women took it a lot harder. Gwen's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened with shock and Tosh simply pursed her lips and became incredibly still. With a slight sigh, Jack decided to carry on.

"We need to intercept Tom tonight. Ianto doesn't feel safe on his own with him, which is why he looks so bad today. He didn't sleep knowing that Tom was there. I'm not going to put up with one of my team feeling insecure in their own home." Jack's face was completely serious, but everyone knew that underneath the words, he meant Ianto in particular. However, none of them had any doubt that he'd react the same way if it was one of them in danger. "We have to do this together. Tom has to know that we're a united front and that he's not getting through any of us."

"Yeah, but Ianto can't be there when we do it," Owen took his turn to speak, "which is why we need to keep him in the archives. I think that the only way to do that without alerting Tom to something being the matter is to change his clock."

"I can do that." Tosh chipped in, her eyes full of fire. "I'll just alter the timings, so the seconds are slightly longer. That'll set it back by the time it's six. How much time do you need?"

"I reckon ten minutes or so. Any longer than twenty and he might get suspicious." Tosh nodded at Jack's words. "Gwen? I need you to be discreet. I need to you find out whether there's any history on Tom for domestic abuse, anything at all."

Gwen nodded mutely, her face set into a mask of conviction and professionalism. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, someone needs to plant the idea that Ianto's up in the Tourist Office, so that Tom heads upstairs before leaving instead of going down to the archives to collect him." Owen added with an after thought. "In fact, we should start dropping the hints for at least ten minutes before he starts to leave."

"I'll distract him to give a plausible time for Ianto to have moved upstairs then." Gwen chipped in, looking to Jack for confirmation. He nodded his approval before speaking himself.

"Okay, at six this evening, when Tom's ready to go, we corner him. He'd not getting out without facing us." Everyone nodded as Jack glared at the lamp on his desk, his jaw set, a hand clenched into a fist as it rested on the surface in front of him.

Giving everyone the signal to leave and carry on as usual, he hit the fist firmly off the surface and stood up, throwing the door open and heading to the kitchen area. On a normal day, he'd be investigating what there was to eat in the fridge, so that's what he did. He couldn't sit around to wait for that evening to arrive.

Only four more hours to go.

* * *

For the past ten minutes, Jack had been sitting behind his desk with nothing to do, his fingers absently beating a rhythm on his desk. He'd finished all his work for the rest of the week earlier that day, having worked diligently to avoid thinking of Ianto and what he now dubbed the 'Tom Situation'. Not very creative, but it did the job.

Gwen had reported back to him an hour or so ago saying that there was no history of anything, no police reports of medical files in which he turned up as someone's spouse. That hadn't exactly improved his mood.

Finally, Owen stuck his head round the door, throwing him a meaningful look. Jack leapt up from his seat and nodded sharply. He composed himself, warned himself not to get carried away and headed out of the door, strolling casually across the workstations to the huge, rolling cog door. At the current moment, it was sealed shut. With a quick glance at Tosh, he also knew it wasn't going to be opening anytime soon, not if she had her way… Which she almost always did.

Jack planted his feet on the floor and folded his arms across his chest, staring icily at the man approaching him, hands shoved in pockets. Tom eventually came to a stop, several feet away from Jack. They stood and stared at each other, Jack's expression fixed in a blank field of feigned indifference and Tom's lip curling slightly in a smirk, his eyes challenging.

"You going to let me out?" Tom asked, his voice betraying hints of smugness and arrogance, something none of the team members had ever heard from him before. His words were cold and calculating.

"I wasn't planning on it." Jack replied in a level voice, raising his chin a little. Tom snorted and strode forwards, heading to the keypad at the side of the door. Before he was close enough to stretch his fingers out to the keys, Jack's hand was on his chest, palm flat against him as he warned him against moving any further.

Tom looked at Jack as if he'd gone insane and then glanced around, trying to rally around the rest of the team for his cause. Jack saw the shock in his eyes as he noticed Owen, Tosh and Gwen standing in a semi circle, all in the same stance as Jack had been, their expression fixed in varying degrees of disapproval, betrayal and anger.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Tom snarled, moving his eyes back to Jack as the boiled with anger. Jack said nothing but applied the smallest amount of pressure to the man's chest, sending him a few steps back until he could look at him head on again.

"I think it's time we had a little talk, Thomas." Jack finally said, his voice chilling each syllable to a glacier, the sentence having the same amount of force as well. Tom's breath caught for a split second and his moth remained closed, his eyes glaring at Jack with a fierce intensity.


	17. Chapter 14A

Dun dun duuuuuun! It's time for the intervention. I worked really hard to try and get this spot on, so i hope you all like it! Please, please comment, anything you have to say in invaluable and it makes me a very very happy writer!

I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the below (apart from Tom), it belongs to RTD and the BBC

* * *

Chapter 14A

"Okay, sure." Tom's expression suddenly changed, his eyes clearing and his face smoothing out as he watched Jack expectantly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"What happened last night?" Jack folded his arms again and watched Tom.

"What I told Owen. A glass fell on the floor and the shards caught him." Tom shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

"Did you ever study physics?" Jack asked, seemingly changing the subject. A slight frown creased Tom's forehead but he played along.

"Yeah, I took it for GCSE, got a B in it." Tom replied casually.

"Well, _I_ aced it in the university academy, but you don't need that level of qualification to now about the laws of force and energy conservation." Jack started to slowly circle around Tom, the UNIT accountant freezing in place. "I think you know that I know that your story is a pretty terrible cover up. So, what really happened?"

"I was teaching him a lesson." Tom's words were spoken so that only Jack could hear them, but he froze in place, alerting the others to a development in the conversation. "I didn't mean to hurt him like that, just to scare him."

"So you intentionally threw a wineglass forcefully at a solid wood door only inches away from his face… and you _didn't_ mean to hurt him?" Jack sounded highly sarcastic, a tone he'd unconsciously picked up from Ianto.

The other three were standing still, but Tosh was the only one who noticed the movement by the basin. She didn't dare turn around and alert everyone else, including Tom, but she could see Ianto by the door to the archives, standing silently and listening to the conversation that was going on. She very discreetly dropped her hands and pulled her jumper off, seeing as the temperature was still exceptionally warm in the main Hub.

As her hand moved past her ear, she flicked on the comm. system, setting it on the open frequency so that Ianto would be hearing everything that the rest of them could, and they could all hear what Jack and Tom were saying.

"It was all your fault, you know. If you hadn't called last night, if you hadn't shagged him, if you hadn't even come back in the first place, none of this would've happened!" Tom was scowling again, spitting his words at Jack with ferocity. Jack didn't let his expression slip in the slightest, despite what the words were doing to him. He currently felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside by a rabid weevil.

"Yeah, because _I_ was the one who put that glass in your hand." Jack rolled his eyes. "You know the thing that really gets me?" Jack leaned in close, his teeth gritted against the overwhelming urge to just pull his gun out and shoot Tom. "It's that you don't even seem sorry. You don't seem to regret anything about it. At least I regret what I did. I regret not getting back here sooner and I regret trusting you to be good enough for him."

"I'm better for him than you will ever be, Jack. You screwed him like a dog and you left him broken, all alone whilst you thought only about yourself, off with that precious Doctor I've heard them all talking about." Tom's voice was cool and level, his smirk back in place at the obvious anger Jack was showing. "Do _you_ regret _that_? Do you regret leaving him – all of them! - in the lurch?"

"No." Jack growled quietly. Everyone else stopped moving, all taken by alarm. Even Tom retreated a little, confused by what had just happened. "I don't regret leaving them at all. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have realised just how much I wanted to be _here_. If I hadn't left, I would never have realised that I had just made the worst mistake of my life. I don't regret that at all."

The team was so intent on listening to Jack that no one noticed Ianto until he was stepping past them, towards Jack and Tom who were glaring silently at one another. With a hiss, Owen lurched forwards and silently grabbed Ianto's arm, pulling him back before the other two men noticed him.

"Tea-boy, not now. Wait." Owen whispered, staring at him hard before looking back to Jack and Tom. Ianto stepped backward into line with the others and silently turning his attention to the two men. They stayed still for a long time before Jack pulled back a little, settling back into his controlled stance again, having heard Owen through the intercom. He thanked whatever God there was that they'd never fitted Tom with his own. He'd used Tosh's spare one whilst the team was out on a run.

"I don't really care about your reasons, just that you did it." Jack finally spoke again, authority ringing in his voice. "I'm only going to say this to you once. I want you out of here."

"You can't do that." Tom sneered, his confidence wavering a little in his eyes, betraying the arrogance in his voice. "Without me, you have no funding for the rest of the year. You need my approval before you can even be functional again. And you know what? You won't be getting a good review until you back away from me, back away from Ianto and get him a transfer to London."

"Blackmail, Tom?" The voice wasn't one that Jack had been expecting to hear. He and Tom whipped around a the same time, both facing the angry Welshman in surprise. Ianto was standing perfectly still, hands in pockets and chin tilted up a little. "That's an extremely low blow, even for you."

"Ianto? You can't be serious. You told me you wanted to leave, that you wanted to get away from here!" Tom stood stock still, his face completely blank of emotion. Jack stepped away from him to watch everything, retreating to his office door silently.

"I said that before. Now I realise that two weeks really wasn't enough to gamble everything I have here for a future that now seems to me to be very, very flawed." Ianto's eyes flickered towards Jack for a moment before returning to Tom's face, watching as he shook his head slightly in disbelief. "I would suggest that you go home. Today. You have an hour to get your stuff from my flat and leave."

"I meant it about the report! You won't have any money without _my_ say so and I won't be filing anything good if you do this." Tom replied in slight desperation, his eyes a little frantic. Ianto just smiled, his lips turning up in the crooked way that Jack had remembered so clearly for the year he was away.

"I think you'll find that you sent it last night." Tom frowned in confusion and Ianto carried on. "You left your laptop open with the glowing report, completed, on it. I attached it to an email for you, hacked through the codes and sent it to your superiors. Thanks."

Jack couldn't help but smile and he walked forwards, signalling Tosh to open the door. As the siren went off and the door rolled back, Jack took hold of Tom's arm and guided him through into the service lift, taking advantage of his stunned confusion. They stayed in silence until they were standing in the cool evening air outside the Tourist Office. As Tom was about to walk away, Jack grabbed the front of his jumper and slammed him into the wall.

"I never want you to come anywhere near here again. If I even so much as hear that you've talked to one of my team, I will personally retcon your ass back to puberty and dump you in the middle of the Scottish Highlands, understand?" Jack's voice was a deadly whisper, his barely controlled rage burning in his eyes.

Tom glowered at him but made no move to reply. After a moment, Jack slammed him against the wall again making the other man wince. Finally, he nodded slowly and pulled himself away from Jack's grip, skulking away into the darkness.

Jack watched until he could no longer see the other man and headed back into the Hub, hurrying back down to talk to the team, to talk to Ianto. When he emerged from the corridor, he was met with the two women muttering to each other and shaking their heads in alarm. They directed Jack down to the autopsy bay and he headed round, suddenly nervous about seeing Ianto again.

He stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs and waited, watching Owen do something to Ianto's wounded hand.

"What happened?" Jack asked quietly, both the other men looking up at him briefly before turning back to the task at hand.

"Ianto got a little over excited earlier and clenched his fists, broke open the stitches." Owen's disapproval was evident in his voice, but Ianto's expression was dangerous. He was staring moodily at his hand.

"Ianto, you okay?" Jack asked tentatively. He saw Ianto's jaw clench and heard Owen clear his throat pointedly. He'd obvious tried to clench his fist again as well.

"What was all that about, sir?" Ianto met Jack's eyes, his expression unreadable.

"Torchwood's no place for someone with a volatile temper, I was looking out for you – for all of you." Jack tried his best to sound like he was in control, but the look Ianto was giving him made him feel distinctly insecure.

"Oh yeah? Well, he would've been gone by the morning anyway. I didn't need rescuing." Jack swallowed hard, Ianto looked back at his hand and Owen shifted uncomfortably, an awkward silence stretching between them all.


	18. Chapter 14B

Yaaaay, it's almost over! Or should that be; Daaaamn, it's almost over! It's up to you which way you look at it for tomorrow's final chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the confrotnation and now enjoy the fallout of it.

Please enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of them, they belong to RTD adn the BBC

* * *

Chapter 14B

During the hour that followed Tom's dismissal, everyone in the Hub returned to normal. Jack was a lot happier to be out of his office and interacting with everyone, Owen was back to his usual, obnoxious self, Ianto was no where to be seen and Gwen and Tosh were just enjoying the normality of everything.

About three quarters of an hour after the intervention, Gwen and Tosh decided to head home, having planned a girly night in due to Rhys being at a friend's stag do. They waved goodbye and left chatting about the latest Jude Law film, debating whether he was more or less attractive than Hugh Grant. Owen had rolled his eyes and pulled his jacket on, yawning loudly. Jack took sympathy on him and told him to come in after lunch the next day, 'as a thank you'.

Once everyone else had gone, Jack went into his office to start tidying up everything and by the time he went back outside, Ianto was doing the same with everyone else's desks. Jack stopped for a moment and allowed himself to just watch the young man walked around. It was something he hadn't been able to do for a while.

"Sir?" He looked up from the floor to find Ianto looking at him a little nervously.

"Yeah?" He replied, unsure as to what was going to occur.

"I was just wondering whether you could drive me home. I can't exactly grip the steering wheel with this hand…" Ianto waved his bandaged appendage slightly and left the sentence open, _and I don't want to risk facing Tom on my own_, he finished in his head. Jack just smiled and nodded, quickly getting his keys and returning to Ianto's side.

They walked in a comfortable silence out of the Hub and up to the plass, the air cool around them as the sun sent brilliant shades of red and orange shivering across the sky. Jack smiled to himself as he realised he hadn't seen a sunset since before he left with the Doctor and he was glad he was with Ianto under the paintbox sky. They soon reached the side street which Ianto had parked his car in and Jack climbed in behind the wheel.

It didn't take long for them to reach Ianto's flat and when Jack pulled up outside, Ianto didn't make any move to get out of the car. Jack watched him cautiously, but Ianto was staring out of the window. For once, Jack knew precisely what he should do next. Clearing his throat, he got out of the car and slammed the door closed, walking up to the front door of the apartment building and turning to wait for Ianto.

The young man carefully climbed out of the car and Jack used the radio remote to lock it. Ianto approached him wearily and Jack gave him his best roguish grin "I told him to get out, so I'm going to make sure he listened to me."

Ianto smiled briefly and led the way up to his third floor flat, Jack following at a respectable distance. The young man unlocked the door carefully and pushed it open, tension flooding his shoulders. When he saw his living area, the tension dissipated. With immense relief, he found it empty and in the same condition as before. He smiled in earnest then and flicked the light on, shrugging his coat off and walking over to his large, squashy sofa. Dropping down into it with a sigh, he closed his eyes and let himself feel truly at ease.

He didn't realise until several minutes later that Jack was doing a scan of his flat, making sure Tom was gone in every way possible, not even a belonging left for him to collect at a later date.

"You're all clear." Jack said with a smile as he walked back through to the living area, heading over to the door to let himself out.

"Wait a minute, Jack." Ianto sat up and look at him. "Do you want a coffee or something?"

"Ianto," Jack thought long and hard for a minute, thinking about what he should do. If he stayed, things could easily heat up between them. If he went, he would be respecting Ianto's previous decision about everything. If he went, there was a higher possibility that, should anything happen later, Ianto would be with him because he wanted to be, not for convenience. "I don't think that's a good idea. You need to get some rest."

"That's fair enough." Ianto smiled and nodded, accepting Jack's answer fully. "I really should say thank you for earlier. He wouldn't have left without you lot going up against him. I didn't mean to be so hard on you, I guess the adrenaline was still pumping."

"Don't worry about it, Yan." Jack laughed lightly before walking over and sitting down next to Ianto on the sofa. "Seriously though. If you're ever in trouble like that again, trust me, as your boss and your friend, to help you deal with it. You can be pretty cunning when you want, but stuff like that always works better when everyone's in on it. Next time, when you want to submit a form to UNIT, I would appreciate being in the loop, so I can vouch for authenticity when I get a phone call tomorrow morning from the head honcho at UNIT demanding what I drugged to his accountant with."

"I guess you could call it 'insurance'. I had a feeling he'd resort to some form of blackmail." He smiled at the thought before sobering up a few moments later.

Silence descended again as Jack looked at Ianto. Part of him was desperately willing him to lean forwards just that little bit further and kiss the young man again, but the rest of him was yelling a warning at him. He looked in Ianto's eyes and saw, for the first time since he'd returned, aside from the night they'd spent together, the man he'd left behind; the proud, slightly vulnerable and intelligent man that he'd never quite managed to see before. Now, he could barely stand to tear his eyes away.

"I need to apologise for the last couple of weeks as well." Ianto spoke in a low voice, though it still took Jack by surprise. "I didn't mean to use you like that, I didn't mean to hurt you so much. Jack, I really do love you, but there's still too much throbbing in my head at the moment. I don't want to get into anything for the wrong reasons. I don't want to screw it up a second time, but I don't know how long this will take me to sort out."

"Say no more, Ianto. I understand, you don't have to explain that to me." Jack nodded solemnly and gently reached out a hand to touch the side of Ianto's face for a moment. The young man's eyes closed briefly as their skin met and as soon as Jack dropped his hand, he took a deep breath before looking away and standing up, fighting the urge to just kiss Jack and never let him go.

Jack copied him and headed towards the door, stopping briefly to say goodbye. "You know my door's always open, whenever you need it."

Ianto locked his eyes with Jack's again for one last moment before leaning towards him and capturing his mouth in a soft, loving kiss, their lips lingering on each other for a moment afterwards before they pulled away at the same time with almost synchronised precision.

Jack smiled sincerely at the young man, who just nodded and watched him open the door and walk out of his flat and down the corridor. Ianto leaned on the doorframe, his fingers absently brushing his bottom lip as he watched Jack walk away. When the door to the stairwell finally stopped flapping, Ianto sighed again and stepped back into his flat, closing the door behind him, sending his barely organised thoughts scattering into the wind as he tried to work out just what he wanted now.


	19. Chapter 15

TADA! Here we are folks, the final chapter! I'm extremely happy with this, I think it ties everything up very nicely. I hope you all enjoy it too!

I want to say a huge thankyou to everyone who's read, commented and crtiqued along the way, it wouldn't be the story it is without your enthusiasm and input! Thankyou all so much, you're complete legends!

So this is for all of you who've been reading!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything, they belong to RTD and the BBC.

* * *

Chapter 15

_So ain't that just like a man?_

Jack headed back into the Hub with a strange feeling inside him. _No painful hole, no urge to rip something to pieces, no need to drink myself to sleep. Odd_, Jack thought with a slight frown. _Could I be feeling peaceful? _

He allowed himself a wry smile as he stepped through the cog door. It immediately turned to a scowl when he was hit by a wall of humid air. _For God's sake! I swear…_ he stormed across the basin area to the door to the archives, thankful for the chill in the air as he walked deeper underground.

He reached the room with the climate control consoles and stepped inside, flicking the light on and undoing a few more buttons at the top of his shirt. With a sigh, he put his hands on his hips and surveyed the scene in front of him. To the untrained eye, the machine seemed to be humming along quite happily to itself. From Jack's point of view, it was smirking in triumph as it once again foiled his attempts to fix it.

"Okay, you and me. Right here, right now." He muttered to himself and he removed his shirt and snapped his suspenders off his shoulders, lying down on the floor and looking at the underside of the cranked up machine. He scanned the inside of the console for a long time, but found nothing wrong.

After an hour of retracing his steps, Jack finally gave up on the internal workings of the machine, deciding to attack it from a different perspective. Flexing his fingers several times, he gripped a hold of the nearest console and heaved it away from the wall, using his entire body to lever it away from the concrete. He squinted in the half light of the shadows cast by the huge piece of metal and saw his problem.

"Here we go again." He groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance, huffing slightly as he reached for the two disconnected wires. With a yelp, he drew his hand back, sucking on his fingertips immediately as the sharp flare of pain hit him. It was only then that he realised the wires were still live. He had to step back to give himself room to think.

Ideally, he should shut off the power to the consoles and fix them safely. However, if he shut the power off to this room, he would first have to find out where the circuit also supplied. That would mean doing a substantial amount of work to fix something that could be sorted within minutes. Granted, those minutes would be sheer hell and more painful than having your internal organs spontaneously combusting, but he'd get over it. He always did.

With a grimace, he made his decision and walked back behind the console, flexing his fingers again as his hands hovered over the two disconnected wires. With a deep breath, he gripped hold of them and forced them together. The blinding pain that ricocheted through his body as the electricity flowed through him was momentary.

After a second or two, he felt his heart seize to a stop and the world went from the whiteness of overwhelming pain to the blackness of death.

* * *

Ianto had decided, almost as soon as Jack had left, that he was going to go lie on his bed and spread out across the whole of it. He smiled to himself as he quickly changed the sheets and bedclothes before flopping down onto the dark blue covers, spread eagled, his smile still firmly in place.

For once, he was enjoying being alone. It had been a long, long time since he'd felt like this, since before Lisa. When he'd been alone, he'd always wished she was lying with him, something which had convinced him that he loved her. He'd felt the same thing after the cyber woman who'd taken her was killed, when he'd first slept with Jack. Every night after that, when he curled up on his side of the bed (not that Jack had ever slept at his flat) he'd desperately missed his presence.

It only occurred to him now that when Tom had been there, he'd simply been filling Jack's place, no matter how long for. Ianto took that opportunity to think through everything that had happened with the UNIT accountant. Whilst they'd had a good time together, Ianto now recognised that he'd never thought of him as a permanent addition to his life. He really had just been filling in the blanks.

Now he was gone and Jack was home, Ianto realised that he didn't need those blanks filled anymore. Not by Jack and certainly not by Tom. For the first time in several years, Ianto felt peaceful at the thought. He sighed happily and folded his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, illuminated by the soft glow of his beside lamp.

He let his attention return to Jack, going over all the things he'd learned since his captain's return. Jack had been, on the surface, just the same as ever; cocky, confident, playful, everything that he'd remembered him as. Underneath it all, on those few occasions when his emotions had gotten the best of him, he'd shown something completely new; genuine anger and concern about Ianto's relationship, undeniable love and affection on the night they'd slept together, things that he'd barely had a chance to glimpse before.

Now, it was like Jack _wanted_ him to see beneath the surface, to see that he was a different person. Ianto thought about that as he pushed himself up and started to get changed. He gathered together some clean clothes and walked through to his bathroom, flicking on the shower and peeling the day's suit off. He carefully manoeuvred himself so that his hand and left cheek were out of the water and stood under the cascade.

As he felt the warm water run across his tired muscles, he smiled again, remembering the last time he'd felt this relaxed. _Lying with Jack afterwards, his arms around me.. I didn't want to go, I don't want to be anywhere else…_ His smile drifted away and he frowned slightly, his brain firing on all levels as he worked out just what he wanted to do.

Determination surged through him and he turned the shower off, quickly towelling himself dry and pulling on his clean clothes, grabbing a hoody from his bedroom before slipping on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbing his keys from the coffee table as he headed to his front door. Knowing that he couldn't drive, he set off at a run for the Hub, enjoying the feel of the wind in his face as he jogged through the dark streets, closing in on the plass.

About fifteen minutes later, he slowed to a halt, opening up the Tourist Office and slipping inside. He found himself remarkably calm and allowed himself a smile as he locked the door behind him and headed through to the lift and then into the Hub.

He knew right away that Jack was in his office, so he headed straight over. When he walked through the door into the dimly lit room, he saw Jack sitting on the floor by his drinks cabinet, dressed the same way as he'd found him all those days ago. He raised and eyebrow and pulled over the guest chair, sitting on it backwards and leaning his folded arms on the back of it.

"I would offer to help, but I reckon I'd be worse than you." He said with a smile, gesturing to the bottle of unopened whiskey sitting beside Jack. The Captain looked up at him and grinned, his eyes meeting Ianto's. They sat and looked at each other for a while before Ianto managed to tear his gaze away to the mess of Jack's hands.

"Two disconnected wires in the climate control machine." Jack explainer, rubbing the raw, red skin of his palms together lightly and balling them into fists gently. "I'm just waiting for them to heal. They're already infinitely better than earlier. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I've been doing some thinking." Ianto replied mysteriously, Jack's eyebrows raising slightly and he focused fully on Ianto, hope seeping unchecked into his mind. "I came to the conclusion that I was happy on my own, back at home. I was happy to lay there by myself and enjoy the feeling."

Ianto saw the expression in Jack's eyes crumple, but he chuckled lightly and held a finger up to stop the other man from interrupting. "But that led me to realise that I want to be with you, and I don't want it because I'm lonely. I want it because I want you."

Jack's lips slowly turned up into a smile, quickly stretching out further into a childish grin and he jumped up and grabbed Ianto's face to pull him in for a kiss. Ianto chuckled and allowed Jack's exuberance to rub off on him a little, one of his hands moving to grip onto the back of the other man's neck as their lips teased and coaxed each other playfully.

"However," Ianto pulled back and moved his finger back between them, Jack looking at him in a mixture of anxiety and concern. "You need to understand that I'm not going anywhere unless you do. If you need to leave with the Doctor again, I'd appreciate a warning, but I'll be here waiting. If you feel the need to get in bed with someone else, I'm out of that door so fast you won't even realise."

Jack pulled back completely and nodded, pulling the young man to his feet and snaking his arms around Ianto's waist, pulling him close and nuzzling his neck gently, ever fibre in him suddenly completely serious.

"Ianto, I promise you that those days are over." He spoke quietly, eyes closed as he concentrated on Ianto's scent and the heartbeats rushing through their veins. He brought his head up and opened his eyes again, gazing sincerely into Ianto's. "You won't have to see that side of me again. I lost it a long time ago."

Ianto stood and studied Jack's face for a moment before laughing gently. Jack rolled his eyes as Ianto's laugh increased, loving the sound of him letting go. After a few moments, their eyes met again and Ianto smiled, leaning in to capture Jack's lips in another, passionate kiss, hands running through his hair and resting on his neck and Jack just pulled him closer, biting on the young man's lip a little as he enjoyed the moment.

"Come on, lets start this thing properly." Ianto whispered, mouth against Jack's ear, the smile evident in his voice. Jack grinned and directed him down to his bunker, glancing around the room one last time for anything which might disturb them before following. He didn't want any interruptions for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N**: I'm putting this to a vote; Would you like to see a sequel for this or not? If so, please say so as I'll need to start coming up with ideas!

I currently have a crossover fic (with Iron Man and The Dark Knight) dabbling around with my muses, but I'll let my Joker fanaticism cool over my holiday to see whether I still like the idea later.


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